Lol!!! I always say... You can NEVER have too many water brushes!!!!! I was never too keen on those ink brushes... I'd rather have water and use it that way... Thanks for the review. Lauri
Thank you for the nice demo and info! I just tried my new Pental Watercolor brush same as your favorite. I filled it with Walnut Ink which I don't think has shellac in it. I but it in full strength because it is not a dark color. It started out great and I few minutes into my landscape drawing it slowly got clogged up. Have you had any experience with using Walnut ink in refillable brushes? Thanks Pearl
Thank you for the nice demo and info! I just tried my new Pental Watercolor brush same as your favorite. I filled it with Walnut Ink which I don't think has shellac in it. I but it in full strength because it is not a dark color. It started out great and I few minutes into my landscape drawing it slowly got clogged up. Have you had any experience with using Walnut ink in refillable brushes? Thanks Pearl
Hi Marty! I owe you an email. . . Another great review! I love my water brushes and use them almost exclusively, even at home. The Pentel is by far the best I have tried, and I have tried quite a few. I will say that Tim Holtz/Ranger makes some that are pretty nice as well. I used them before I discovered the Pentel. He has a cool brush that has a medium to large point and you can remove a portion down by the brush head to get a flat wash brush from it! He also has a nice fine point one. I have many of those filled with inks and they work wonderfully and have never leaked and I have moved them, filled with ink from NY to GA and several times within the state and not had an issue! Hope that helps someone.
Great review, totally enjoyed and learned a lot. I filled one of my Sakura fine waterbrush with higgins black india a while ago and it runs smoothly and beautiful. Since that ink is used on technical/drafting pens that use a similar inkflow mechanism(?), didn't have to dilute the ink. I'm subscribing to your channel and hope to see more of those great art-tips.
It shouldn’t if it isn’t shelac based, but it will difinitely stain the plastic and the bristles so once you commit to a color, you’ll probably have to make sure only to use that color in that brush pen.
Aw man Marty, I have been waiting for a video like this! I got a couple waterbrushes and have become a bit addicted to them haha. Thanks for making these reviews and demonstrations :)
thanks for sharing your information, Marty I sure is helpful what to buye a head of time to save on time and money, thank my artist friend, sincerely Reynaldo Juan Martinez from rainy southern California. you have a good day! .
great video once again Marty! I love my waterbrushes and Derwent makes a really good one and they also have a chisel style too. ps, I havent forgotten your art card!
+Kerri Hickman Hi Kerri - I haven't tired the Derwent's yet. I need to give them a good try out and I like the idea of a chisel tip. I look forward to the art card! :-) Have a great day! - Marty
It is a good idea to not to leave water stay in your water brush because it will grow algae. Which will not be good for your painting. so if this happens just use lemon juice . Put it in and let it set for a while. or you can take the water brush apart and put the lemon juice in a small bowl and soak the brush for a while in the bowl.
+Terri Simmer Thank you for the great tips. I rarely let my water brushes sit idle long. :-) I use them daily and that seems to help. Your tips will come in handy though if I ever forget one and let it sit too long. - Marty
I like to use my water brushes with my water soluble pencils and pastels. I bought a cheap set off Amazon and I also have a couple Sakura ones. I might buy a couple more cheap Amazon sets and try the Hydrus with water in the waterbrush! I am also interested in trying the color brush! Inhad never heard of it before! Hmmmm! Great video! I love all your videos, actually! 😊
I love water brushes. Have you seen the Sailor Profit waterbrush? Teoh yi Chi has a review of it on his channel. They are coming out with ones with fountain pen bodies now. It's a bit more upscale and something that I would like to use for myself if it was available in America. It seems like Asia has more selection in water brushes then we do. Thank you for your review of these BTW. I'm always looking for good inexpensive ones for my classes as I am an art teacher of at-risk kids and a lot of them are learning disabled and have difficulty handling the whole two cups of water- going to the sink and getting them and rinsing brushes in the right cup thing, and the water brush and a paper towel really simplifies the class process and cleanup and also keeps them from using too much paint and turning their entire paint set into watery sludge. :) I'm thinking of getting the Pentel ones next because the last ones I got were Royal and langnickel and although they were cheap they sucked the paint back into the brush body and dirtied the water when the students squeezed them. They are expensive so I have to get them just a few at a time for my classes!
Hi Michelle - Thanks for the note. Thank you for the work you do with at-risk kids. Yes, some of these water brushes are expensive and sometimes you get what you pay for and sometimes you get burned unfortunately. I always buy the Pentel Water Brushes because they work the best and last the longest. I've tried a bunch of other ones, expensive ones, cheap ones, and none of them stack up to the Pentel.
Marty, have you tried to fill the water reservoir with a color (color A) and then dip the bristles into another color (color B) and then try to write and/or draw something to see how that turns out; just an ideé!. I hope that it all works out well for you and your "little friends"! ;o) God Bless!
ChiRho Studio either Kristina Werner or Jennifer McGuire who are professional cardmakers has a hand lettering video where they do what you described it is more likely to be Kristina's video since I am not that sure if Jennifer does hand lettering or caligraphy
Hi, many thanks for a great video ;-) I´d like to ask, what kind of ink you would recommend to use with the water brushes? The one, you can eventually keep in for longer without ruining the tip of the brush or clogging it? Were you able to keep the hydro martins ink inside the brushes for longer? Ever tried any other ink brands? Many thanks for the answer :-)
Mi Michal - I haven't tried a lot of different inks and I don't think the PH Martin's held up that long. You just have to make sure the ink doesn't contain shellac. I think there are tons of great brands out there.
I will be flying, to Colorado Feb 13..all of my supplies will be mailed to me, so..I don't know when, they will be mailed to me ugh. My internet service and phone will have to be changed as well. Hopefully I will be able to see you soon. I will miss watching your tutorials and reviews. Thank you Marty :)
+Rhonda Magee Hi Rhonda - I'll miss you on the channel. Let me know as soon as you're back. There should be some videos up for you to catch up on :-) Have a great trip and thank you for the note. Safe travels my friend. - Marty
For Pentel aquabrush, I only had luck with using the medium size one for ink. Unlike the large and small, the medium size does not have the breather holes. To me this makes it easier for the ink to flow into the bristles when you squeeze as opposed to coming out the sides. I am using Deleter black 4 with no problems. In fact it performs better than my Pentel color brush.
Hi Zoe - Most inks will work well as long as they don't contain shellac. The shellac with harden and ruin the bristles. The inks I use are Japanese and the Swiss inks from Caran d'Ache. ~Marty
Hi Marty, Great review! I like the Aquash my self for use with my watercolor pencils though I also have some of the Koi/Sakura brushes as well (some have a 4 ml mini container that is half as long as their standard 9 ml, the 4 ml size is great in a little travel tin). I also have a flat brush (not sure what brand as its packed away in a travel kit (maybe Niji)). I wish Pentel also had a flat but alas. All of the brushes work great just as you demonstrated. I never tried filling them with any color though I knew they could be. I didn't want to use my regular watercolor since my paints are heavily pigmented and I figured the particles would clog them. The Hydrus worked well though from your demo. Look forward to next vid. Thanks. :-)
+KaBluey59 Wow! I missed the smaller size Koi, now I have to look that up for sure. Do they work as well as the other larger brushes? I like portability when it comes to my kits. - Marty
Yes, they are exactly the same except the length of the reservoir. You can actually swap the brush heads (the screw on portion with the brush and the cap attached) as the threads are the same. I located all of my waterbrushes and here are the sizes: the brush heads are 2-13/16 inches long whether #2, #6, or #8 round. The water reservoir on the 4 ml is 2-11/16 inches long and it is clear soft plastic. The 9 ml water reservoir is 4-5/16 inches long and is translucent pale blue soft plastic. Hope this helps. Happy painting. :-)
Thanks Marty! Excellent review, I must say I love my water brushes. I saw in your video that you had a Faber-Castell, are they piston? Do they work as nicely as the Pentel brushes? Also you had shown a Niji flat brush, I'm looking at that and was wondering how do like it?
+Hermione Jarvis Hi Hermione - The Faber-Castel brush is very much like the Caran d'Ache. Both are great, but I just find it easier to use the Pentel. They're just so nice. Which brush was the Niji? lol I can't remember now...
I have the Pentel Black Pigmant Aquash Brush, and it tends to leek a little between the ink holder and pen area. Is there anything I should do to stop this? Thanks! -Zee
Hi Marty! I hope you are enjoying your sunday! I just saw this video about the water brushes. I have one from Sakura Koi (the smalll size) and three other ones (small, medium and large) from Royal Langnikel and I am not happy at all with none of them. Sakura Koi I think the tip of the brush is too soft and the Royal´s are very poor quality. Anyway those ones were the first I had and tried. Next time I´ll go on Pentel´s Aquash. Thanks again for another great video! :)
+Cris Costa Hi Cris - I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with the cheaper water pens, that is often the case when it comes to the less expensive brands unfortunately. Although I was surprised to hear about the Sakura Koi because I like their paints a lot and the little brush I tried was not too bad. I think you will really enjoy the Pentel Aquash brushes. I use them all the time and they hold up well. I don't add any vinegar or anything like that I just rinse them once in a great while and I've never had trouble with algae. Where I live they put fluoride and other purifiers in the water to make is safe. Happy Sunday Cris. ~Marty
Great video Marty. I never even thought about using waterbrushes for ink. I have used refillable paint markers but most of the brands are very liquid and tend to leak a bit.
Another great review. I really like the Pentel Aquash too. I laughed hard at the lefty loosely...I bought my second Aquash brush and thought it was defective until I remembered The frugal crafter (Lindsay) mentioning it in one of her videos. I'm so grateful for you, Lindsay, Marty (MOW) and Cinnamon for all your tutorial videos!
+Laurie Green-Schillawski (Laurie's Art) Hey thanks Laurie. Glad it was helpful and I appreciate that you took the time to comment. Have a great week. - Marty
Hi Denise - I don't think I cover the costs in too much detail, but the Pentel water pens are anywhere from $4 to $7 depending on where you go and if they're on sale. - Marty
As of today, do you know of any waterbrush that allows you to stop the flow of water to the brush head temporarily while in use? I love using them (Pentel Aquash Medium is my go-to) but sometimes I want to be able to dry-brush or to use the paint full-strength. The continuous feed to the brush head prevents that. Your thoughts? Thanks!
Hi Karen - I know what you mean, so I just use a regular dry brush when I want that effect. I can stop the flow to my Pentel by not squeezing it, but it won't be completely dry. That's why I just carry the spare brush. Thanks for the question. Hope it helps a little. ~Marty
Thanks for your response and the useful videos. I do hope some manufacturer will figure out a way to do this at some point! (It's part of my never-ending quest to reduce my watercolor travel kit to the barest of minimums. :)
I don't think it would work too well unless you cleaned the brush very, very thoroughly after use. If the paint hangs around in the channel or the fiber's of the brush. ~Marty
Hi, thank you for the video. i noticed you had the faber castell one on the table. how was that one in your opinion? does it work like the carandache? because they looked somewhat similar from what i could tell. thank you.
Hi There and thank you for the question. Yes, they are very similar and both are "plunger" type brushes. To be honest they're not my favorites to use, because there's extra unnecessary work involved with filling them. Hope that helps. ~Marty
+Owings Art I agree plus the length seems uncomfortable...on the other hand im thinking that if I wanted to mix more precise dilutions of water and for example the hydrous watercolors it might yield better results or easier results perhaps. The pen also appears to give an extra amount of water reserve; however when the plunger is not filled it's actually a shorter pen, so does it actually carry more water after all or is that more of an illusion due to the different design? Thank you for answering my questions
sphaeramundi It might carry a bit more water, but not much because it's actually cylindrical, the other water brushes are more oblong in shape. The precise mixing is a good idea, maybe that will work well. Good luck. ~Marty
thank you marty. im not an artist, just like adult colouring and messing about with paints. love your channel for tips and reviews. top stuff mate, keep it up.
Good morning and thanks so much for the great tips! I picked up some Artists loft water color pencils yesterday, for my first time as I was really eager to see how well they worked. I'm not happy with this brand, as it leaves marks. I've watched several of your videos and enjoy each one. Thanks!
+Debra Powell Hi Debra - Thank you for the note. Yes, the Artist loft wc pencils are very inexpensive, but not very good quality. If you're looking to save money, but still want a great watercolor pencil set, you might want to try the following: Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle or Koh-I-Noor Mondeluz - Here is a video I did of a few different type of watercolor pencils: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6h_ETd-RebE.html
+Owings Art ..Hi and thanks for the quick reply! I did watch this helpful video. Thanks! I ordered a set of 3 Pentel aqua brushes...fine, med and lerge. I look forward to using them! Also I will be exchanging those pencils for Farber Castell art grip aquarelle set. I watched your water color pencil videos as well. You are a wealth of great info! Thanks again!
+Owings Art Thanks again! Wasn't able to get FB pencils but did find Kimberly by Generals. I haven't had a chance to draw with them but I did check out the lead. I think they'll be great! From what I understand, Generals back up their products. Happy painting! Yes, I'll continue to follow. You are an amazing artist!