Round Watercolor Brush

I looked at the Neptune quill mops before looking at this brush, as I wanted a synthetic brush that could hold a lot of water and pigment, allowing for loose, expressive strokes and wet-in-wet techniques in my watercolor illustration work. The diameter of this brush head is 8.7mm and tip length is 33mm. This makes it roughly comparable in size to a size 2 quill mop brush, which is not available in this brush line (Neptune quill brushes are only available in sizes 4-8). I felt that the size 4 quill would be just a bit too large for me, since most of my work is done in small to medium sizes. This brush seemed to be the size that I needed, so I bought it, and I’m really impressed with it. The belly holds a lot of water and pigment, releasing it fairly evenly onto my paper. I can do big, loose, expressive strokes with it very easily. It is now one of my go-to brushes when I want to put a lot of pigment down on the paper or want to drag pigment with a wet brush to watch it flow from one area to another. It isn’t a quill and isn’t as versatile (which I’ll explain momentarily), but for what it does, it’s excellent. I do will point out that this brush is not really comparable to a quill mop in one major aspect, i.e, the shape of the brush head. Quill brushes have a rounder belly and more narrowly tapered tip, while this brush has a fairly balanced diameter from ferrule to tip. So, while both a quill and this large round can hold a lot of paint and disburse it smoothly, they don’t share the same versatility. With a good quality quill mop, you can get broad strokes and fine lines with the same brush. You get get a lot of stroke variety with this brush, but you will not achieve as fine of lines with it as a good quality, comparably sized quill. End of story. So, it really comes down to your needs. If you need a brush with a full belly and really fine point to do a lot of work with a single brush, you’re better off going with a quill brush. But, if you want large, expressive strokes and to wet sizable areas with a single dip of the brush, this one will do quite nicely. And, it’s pretty affordable, too! Side note: I ended up getting this brush for larger, wet areas and the Da Vinci Casaneo size 0 quill mop on Amazon (which I also love) for the versatility in strokes from a single brush. They complement each other quite nicely and give me a lot of options when I’m working more loosely, filling in large areas or working wet-in-wet. I have added a couple of my recent illustrations, where I used this brush in part of my painting process, to show its versatility. In the perfume bottle illustration, I used this brush to paint the perfume inside of the bottle using a wet-in-wet technique, dispersing near the top, then feathering it downward with the brush. In the smoothie bowl illustration, I used this brush to create the large, wet swirls around the outside edges of the bowl, using a wet-on-dry painting technique with a very wet brush. Both of these illustrations were done on a 9x12” block of Stonehenge Aqua cold-press watercolor paper (also available on Amazon). I like the performance that it delivers and would definitely buy it again.

One of my favorite brushes.

very nice brush, it is soft and holds water well, but if you want to dab with it, I so far have not mastered that, I tend to use my Princeton snap or some other stiffer synthetic..it's a preference thing...but this is a lovely brush for florals, especially wet florals etc.

Love this paint brush

Another good watercolor brush for my collection.

Product is good, packaging was not appropriate it needed to have a safer stronger container because my brushes came bent

Perfectly packaged with lots of care. Great price and a quick shipper.

perfect for acrylics holds a fine tip for detail work …worth the $$

J’adore ce pinceau ! Une belle retenue de l'eau et application des pigments est fort professionnelle !

Good round pointy brush but note ; short handle

This size is the best and I plan to buy some more to have as standby. Really soft bristles that hold water well and release it perfectly. Even as you run out of water the brush retains its shape which I find very useful. I am so happy to have discovered this brush.

ok

I fell in love with it after the first use! Princeton became my favorite watercolor brush brand!