What paintbrush brand is recommended for a beginner?

I don't think brands are that important unless you are a really experienced brush painter. 

The thing about acrylics is that you can use synthetics.  With enamels you have to be careful.  Paint thinner, and especially lacquer thinner, can damage some synthetic brushes, especially when cleaning.

These days the craft stores sell some very good paint brushes for very reasonable prices, especially in those sets/packages of four or five brushes of different sizes.  If it is a big store, like a Michaels or a Hobby Lobby, I shop in the crafts area rather than the oil painting area.  Some pretty expensive brushes in the oil painting area.

I don't have a particular brand but I like using red sable brushes in variety of sizes.

I got ones listed as red sable from Amazon. Of course I have no idea if they are real.

ardvark002

Unfortunely it's getting hard to get sable brushes, as the sable is on endangered lists in most countries where they live. I'm not positive, but I have heard that they ban from import into the USA. anyone have any info on this? Aardvark

 

Red sable brushes are not made from actual sables (a member of the Marten family), but rather from hairs taken from the tail of a kolinsky (member of the weasel family), which are bred and raised for the purpose. The traditional "formula" for brushes is a 60/40 ratio of male to female hairs.

While the kolinsky is not listed as endangered, producers all around the world have been criticized for the conditions in which the animals are kept. Starting in 2013, state and federal agencies here in the US (including the Fish & Game Department here in Montana) began seizing imports of red sable because of trade and  treaty clauses governing the import of foreign species, in part due to animal activists. You can still get them, but the price now reflects the circumstances, so expect to drop a pretty penny for them.

I have sometimes had problems with synthetic brushes falling apart at the most critical time in painting.I usually have 2 or 3 different thinners out and dipping into the wrong one will dissolve the bristles and / or the glue holding them to the handle.

I mostly use Camel hair brushes. 

And I do have a few sabel brushes

Make sure to get wood handle brushes. Hobby Lobby has cheeper brushes in the Art isle.

The model isle has a few of the same brushes ... at a higher price.  Why I will never know.

Some brushes have bigger handles. These dont hurt my hand so much when I'm painting for an extended period, but I do use the regular handles too.

I also like to have a few of the "bent tip" brushes on hand. Its easy to get into tight spaces and still see what your doing.

I think Golden Taklon brushes from hobby lobby are fine for modeling. Works fine with lacqer. keep shape, come clean, not expensive. It's only models, not high art.

Use a variety of brushes myself depending on what im doing. Have a dollar store pack of 20 brushes with various bristles, several oil and acrylic brushes, acid brushes and soft make-up brushes. My favorites are taklon or softer synthetic fibers that tend to not leave brush marks in Tamiya acrylics. 

Hi ;

 I find that synthetic brushes don't do the job for me . I will spend mucho dinero for one brush of high quality in red sable or other natural fibres .Why ? well some of my real good brushes are over ten to twelve years old , and some are older and they still do an excellent job .

   My synthetic brushes have all been replaced within one or two years . Besides I can't train ( shape , the synthetic brushes ) like I do the natural bristles . Gosh ! I have some liner brushes that are now going on more than ten years in age . T.B.