While waterbrushes are great for sketches and small paintings, large scale paintings would be beyond their limitations. No doubt the more expensive sable brushes can hold a lot more paint than these. I must qualify that by saying that most of my traditional brushes are second rate sables or synthetics. You may find you need both to get the job done.īy the way, all my waterbrushes seem do just as good a job at holding and moving paint as my traditional brushes. Since both waterbrushes have their place, I would recommend you buy one of each. Now I can get crisp fine lines with great flow. I did a Frankenstein job on a few of my small size Kuretake waterbrushes, and put Pentel bristles in them. These are good in situations where you would normally use a floppy round brush. The Kuretake bristles are softer and more floppy than Pentel, and don't come to a sharp point. So when you want fine detail and crisp lines, the Pentel is better. Pentel bristles always come back to a sharp point and are more firm than Kuretake. Maybe one reason many people prefer the Pentel is that that the more restricted water flow helps keep the water to paint ratio more consistent. Also, the flow is better controlled on the Kuretake so water won't drip on your work unexpectedly - like one of my Pentels did. While on a Pentel you really have to squeeze to get a trickle, you can send a stream of water out of a Kuretake with much less effort. You can send water through the bristles with less effort on a Kuretake waterbrush, which is helpful when you are washing the brush. I personally prefer the water flow on the Kuretake over the Pentel. I have read on other web sites that a lot of people prefer the water flow and bristles of the Pentel Aquash water brush over the Kuretake in its various manifestations (more on these below). I hope someday someone will invent a waterbrush with a water shut-off system so we can have the best of both worlds. So this feature is both an asset and a liability, and one reason I hold on to my old regular brushes. It may not be an issue when painting small areas, but it is very noticeable on larges areas such as skies. Of course most of the time you do not want the water to paint ratio changing with every stroke. You can utilize this unique feature to get some great effects. If you stay with the stroke long enough, it will go all the way to pure water. You can start your stroke where you want the color to be the darkest and most saturated, and work your way to the lighter, less saturated areas. One cool thing about waterbrushes is that the constant water supply will allow you to go from dark to light in a natural unbroken graduation. With a little practice these do become easy to control. When you first start using a waterbrush you may find it more difficult to use than a regular brush because you have to take into account the constant water supply coming down through the bristles. It's written by Chihiro Tanaka (mentioned above) and is mostly in Japanese, but there is a small English section there, too. There's a web site dedicated to the Kuretake Phys waterbrush. I have been using either Pentel Aquash (the one at bottom of the photo) or Kuretake (pronounced koo-reh-tah-keh) Phys waterbrushes (the three in the middle) almost to the exclusion of my regular brushes. Tanaka's latest books on sketching with the waterbrush is in my recommended book list (see the link at the bottom of this page). Some of brush pen makers realized he was on to something big and started to produce these brush pens with translucent barrels and no ink, calling them waterbrushes (mizu-fude - pronounced mee-zoo-foo-deh). Then he included photos of these modified tools in his books on watercolor sketching. He used to empty the ink out of regular brush pens and fill them with water. In Tokyo, I've noticed there are more books on sketching which recommend the waterbrush now, including several books by Chihiro Tanaka, the man who is credited with inventing these. Waterbrushes started appearing in Japan in the 1990s and have recently become very popular around the world. If you use a small sketchbook, your entire set up will fit in a pocket. All you need is a waterbrush, a small set of half pan watercolors and a sketchbook, plus some tissue paper or a rag. These are great for watercolor sketching on location. It also makes cleaning the brush between colors a breeze. When you squeeze the barrel, water enters the bristles, thus eliminating the need for a separate water container. For those who don't know, a water brush or waterbrush (some makers use two words while others combine them into one) has a soft plastic barrel which contains water.
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