Brush Techniques
For these exercises, the following brushes are useful: a round brush, flat brush, and liner brush. Other watercolor brushes you may find useful are a deer foot brush, mop brush, cat tongue brush, and filbert brush. (But these additional brushes are optional and simply fun to have on hand.)
Straight and broken lines with a round brush.
Dots with the tip of a round brush.
Curvy lines with a round brush.
Broad strokes with a flat brush.
Round brushes are standard and very useful for watercolor painting. For me, they are the workhorses. If desired, you can paint an entire painting with just a round brush.
Flat brushes are the second most important brushes for watercolor painting. They are great for broad strokes of color or straight continuous lines. They can be used for large washes of color, as well as getting into those tight spaces.
Thin and broken lines with side of a flat brush.
Curvy lines with a flat brush.
Wash of color with a flat brush.
Wash of color with a round brush.
Filbert brushes are flat brushes that are rounded at the ends instead of square. While not as good for tight corners, they are great for curvy, rounded lines and washes of color.
Curvy lines with a filbert brush.
Curvy lines with a small filbert brush.
Stippling with a deer foot brush.
Straight and curvy lines with a liner brush.
Deer foot brushes are good for stippling with a drybrush technique. With drybrush painting, only small amount of paint is picked up on the brush. Add very little water to the paint. This will create a stippling pattern when pressing the brush lightly against the paper. The longer the brush is held in place, the more paint is laid down on the paper.
Liner brushes are long, thin round brushes good for making lines, letters, and linear details, such as the veins on a leaf.
