Oil painters generally rely on an assortment of long handled natural hair brushes (long handles because oil paintings are generally large and a longer handle allows the artist to work at a distance from the painting surface). An array of hog bristle brushes or synthetics designed to function like bristle are usually used at the beginning stages of the oil painting when large areas of the painting surface are being filled in. The stiff, coarse brushes do not come to a fine point but have two, three, or more splits or “flags” at the end which allow the bristle to hold more paint. These brushes are usually selected for the earlier “blocking in” stages of a painting. They are strong, resilient, and able to carry heavy paint loads with no detrimental effect on the brush. Large brushes are usually used first, followed by smaller sized brushes as the painting progresses and more details are added. Other natural hairs may include badger hair for blending applications, and mongoose for glazing techniques or as a fan brush. Details, delicate passages, highlights, smoothing, glazing, and all manner of precision and finishing work will usually be reserved for the soft and delicate sable hair brushes or synthetic sables. Unlike the stiffer, coarser brushes used in the beginning of the painting these sable brushes come to a fine point and give a softer, smoother look to the applied paint. The shapes of brushes generally used by oil painter include: filbert, flat, bright, and round. An oil painter may also have several brushes reserved for special effects or fine details. These specialty brushes may include such shapes as: fan, egbert, pointed or detail round, and liner.

Although many artists and art instructors prefer natural hair over synthetics for oil painting, each artist’s particular preference, budget, and intentions inform the decision to use either synthetic or natural hair in an oil painting. It should be noted, however, that many oil mediums contain solvents or oils that could be a hazard to oil brushes. Synthetic oil painting brushes, although they cannot replicate the finest quality sables, are usually cheaper and more resilient against the damages that the oil painting medium can have on fine natural hair brushes.

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As the stages of an acrylic painting often follow a similar arc as those of an oil painting, many acrylic paintings similarly begin with larger, stiffer brushes to carry heavy paint across the surface, and proceed with smaller, smoother and finer brushes as the painting progresses. Long handles are also preferred over shorter handles when the painting is larger and distance is needed between the surface and the artist. Acrylic painters working with paint in similar consistencies as oil paint will also generally choose brushes shapes similar to those of an oil painter; filbert, flat, bright, and round for the majority of their brushes. Specialty brushes may include shapes such as: fan, egbert, pointed or detail round, and liner.

Acrylic paints dry significantly faster than oils, and use mediums that can be particularly caustic to fine natural hair brushes often used in oil and acrylic. Additionally, the PH of acrylics is the opposite of that of natural hair PH. This can damage soft natural hair over time. For these reasons, the only natural hair filament that is used with acrylic paints is the resilient and tough hog bristle.

Most brushes in an acrylic painters assortment are a range of large to small, and stiff to soft synthetic brushes. Acrylic brushes are most often suitable for use in other mediums, especially oils, while brushes specifically designed for oil paint or watercolors would be unsuitable and too easily damaged with acrylics.

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Watercolor brushes are traditionally soft, absorbent natural fibers and typically of long length. The handles are generally short as the artist usually works with a smaller painting surface and thus works at a closer range. Kolinsky sable and pure red sable are considered the best watercolor brushes for their softness, resiliency, and ability to hold an excellent point when wet. Due to the high cost of the finest natural hair watercolor brushes, there are a range of suitable synthetic watercolor brushes available. Synthetic watercolor brushes can be used successfully with other media. The most used shapes for watercolor brushes are: pointed rounds, flat wash brushes, and mop brushes.

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