#Watercolor fan brush how to#
#Watercolor fan brush series#

Used for splattering, stippling, grass, grass done in long thin quick stokes, better when done in dry brush or not too wet. I am just having a look thru’ my art books on texture. Write down what each one is and how you acheived it. There are soooooooooo many things you can do, you really need to get a piece of paper and have a play with your fan brush and try out everything you can think of. You could layer and overlap with different fan sizes.If you tear a jagged piece of scrap paper and put it on your painting where you want to paint grass, using your fan brush make quick upward flicking strokes startin on the scrap paper and you can make tussocks of grass. Wipe off excess paint and then make short delicate strokes.Take advantage of the curve of the fan by resting the tip of the brush on the paper and then lift off.Flick the brush away from you in overlapping strokes of different lengths.Stroke it away from you and then to one side so that the initial thin line becomes thicker and stripy. Hold the brush perpendicular to the paper.Overlapping the marks with another colour will produce interesting variations. Holding the brush at an angle will give curved shapes. Stipple – hold the brush perpendicular to the paper and dab the tips of the bristles on to the paper give a broken line.Wiggling the brush creates a varied line. Load the fan and stroke it across the paper, to give a broad stripy line.

#Watercolor fan brush series#

Now you are going to make a series of different marks on the sheet and write the method of creation next to each mark, as a useful future reference. Avoid scrap paper, as you’ll want to keep this sheet for future reference and loose paper is prone to damage or loss. Take a fresh page of your sketchpad, or use a large sheet of card, about A3 size. The selected brush may seem obvious now, but it’s easy to forget with the passage of time. Write down the brush size, or draw around it, so you know which was used for this test sheet. A test sheet solves that problem, is useful reference, and is fun to produce.

#Watercolor fan brush how to#

I’ve often heard students say that they own a fan brush but don’t know how to use it. So how do we use a fan brush? Whenever you purchase a new brush, I recommend making a test sheet. Broken edges, long lines, stippling, texture, wispy strokes – the fan brush takes them in it’s stride. I contend that the fan brush is hugely useful, and deserves its place in your painting kit. For watercolourists, fans are available in Kolinsky sable. The stiffer bristles of hog’s hair are particularly effective for rendering textures in acrylic, especially heavy body. The softer hair types work well with fluid media hogs hair can be used with any medium. I mostly prefer hog’s hair fan brushes as, in my experience, they usually spread more evenly when wet.Īs natural hair spreads more evenly, I prefer them whether painting in watercolours, inks, acrylics or oils. Not always ideal, though that can be a useful attribute on occasions. While the nylon bristles look evenly spaced when dry, when wet the fibres are prone to dividing into chunks, or points, giving stripy marks. To keep the bristles evenly spread, be sure to clean your fan right down to the ferrule. Once you have invested in a brush, care is important for longevity. The majority of fan brushes retail at £5-£10, so this is a brush that won’t break the bank. I suggest buying one and then adding other types or sizes later as necessary.

The very biggest may be too big to be beneficial, unless you regularly work at a large scale.

The most useful size depends on the usual size of your artwork. They vary slightly in size, bristle length, width and density, depending on the range and manufacturer. Brush ranges usually include several different sizes of fan, sometimes sold as a set. Most manufacturers indicate the different sizes numerically, using only even numbers, or sometimes as Small, Medium or Large. The natural brushes vary from soft to stiffer bristles, depending on which type of hair is used – sable, badger or squirrel, goat or hog. Characteristics of the fan brushįan brushes are available in synthetic (often referred to as nylon) or natural hair. All my examples here use heavy body acrylics. (Give that a try with other paint types too, to see how effective it is.) Yet the fan brush is so much more, being suited to other paint media and to a wide range of mark-making possibilities. Originally conceived as an oil painter’s brush, the fan’s traditional use is for blending colours or softening hard edges. This week I’m continuing the theme, so it’s time for the Fan Brush to take centre stage. Last week I shared my love of Sword-liner brushes with you. It’s time to b ecome a fan of fan brushes