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Acrylic Painting - Which brush should I use?

I love to paint, and I am a beginner kinda, but lately its been frustrating because I can't seem to make detailed stuff. I really think it's because of the brushes I have.

Can someone tell me what kind of brush I should be using for making detailed stuff. Also blending colors into a small spot is extremely hard to me, any tips?

Like stuff like Frida Kahlo, I don't even understand how she does that stuff...I know she uses oil paint, but is that a big facotor?

All of the replies so far have been interesting in their own way but none have actually answered your sincere question completely.

For really fine, detailed work in acrylics I suggest you buy and use these brush sizes: 3/0, 2/0, 1/0 and even 0/0. You can paint the finest eyelash on a portrait with an 0/0 or an 1/0 size brush.

And buy natural hair brushes for your fine, detailed work. The reason being that natural hair brushes retain more of the paint and hold their point better. Think about how much water your hair retains as you step out of a shower and how much effort you have to put into drying your hair. Natural hair simply retains better. To save money I use synthetic brushes on the larger areas where I don't have to worry about details.

You actually don't have to dilute down acrylics when using fine point brushes. The better quality lines of acrylic paint makers, like Golden (which is the best), Liquitex and M. Graham all sell both solid, full body paint and liquid paint. The liquid paint they sell is just as durable, just as permanent, as any solid paint and yet just as fluid as watercolor.

As to blending, there are several ways to go. I prefer pre-blending most of my colors on my pallet and then applying the desired shades to the canvas. If you want to blend into what you're doing directly on the canvas this is easy enough to do with a little practice and learning a few little artist tricks: like keeping a second brush nearly, sitting in a cup of water, to use to keep your work area slightly wet. Keeping it slightly wet (damp) prolongs the drying time and allows you more time to work in your desired blends. It will take practice to get this technic down so I suggest you practice on a disposable area a little first.

You can also blend, and slow down the drying process, with liquid glazes. Both Golden and Liquitex sell high quality liquid acrylic glazes. But again, it will take a little practice to learn to use the glazes for the right effect.

Fedor Emelianenko Oil Painting


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