The Round Paint Brush

Brush Series: Episode #4

We are doing brush #4 in our series, it’s the round brush. So what all can you do with a round brush! Lots of things and I am going to show you how! I am going to show you how to do palm trees, how to do stippling for some simple flowers, and how I use the round brush for trees, starbursts, skinny detail lines and swirls, and even lettering!

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I am working with three different round brushes today in different sizes.

I have use round brushes like THESE in a lot of my paintings. This set of fine liner round brushes is my favorite for the finer details.

We’re also going to be talking about pressure and how much to use when you are doing these brushstrokes. This is something that a lot of people struggle with.

Round Paint Brush Painting Techniques

One of the top questions I get is how do I get those skinny lines? It’s usually two things 1) not having the right brush and 2) not having the right amount of pressure when you are putting the brushstroke down. I can get thin or thick lines with the same brush depending on how hard I push down.

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The first brush I’m going to use is a size 0 and we are going to do our palm tree. You can see in the video that I start with making a starburst-like shape as our foundation for the palms. Once you have that on there you will make quick short brushstrokes along that line.

You want to make sure that you have enough paint in your brush so you will constantly be reloading as you are going along your palm tree

Next up, I show you a really simple flower using the stippling technique. You’re going to start along the bottom of the stem and go a little bit wider at the bottom narrowing it towards the top almost in a cone-like shape.

I use these in so many of my bouquets, you can see HERE

You can also use stippling to do some simple trees and trees along the horizon line!

I even like to use a round brush to do some simple abstract flowers by making a comma-shaped in a circular motion. I use the same technique to do abstract stars in the sky.

Let’s move on to talk a little bit about skinny detail lines. I recommend using a detail brush from my Amazon store or a size 0.

This is what I use to outline shapes like the truck I have shown and to do curly-cues and swirls. The skinny round brush also is great for lettering. Jump over to the video to see how I do this!