8 Ways To Paint With A Flat Brush (For Beginners)
Mandar Marathe 
Flat brushes are very versatile and make painting easy! Learn 8 different brushstrokes you can get with them.
In this post and video we are going to learn 8 different ways you can use a flat brush and I’ll also give you examples of when to use those strokes.
And if you watch this video till the end I’ll give you a bonus tip to use this brush in a surprising way.
But before we get into the brush strokes themselves, let’s look at the way to handle the brush because that’ll determine the type of stroke you’ll get.
First thing is how you hold the brush - with the edge horizontal, with the edge vertical or at a different angle.
Second is Where you hold the brush - If you hold it closer to the ferrule, you’ll get a tighter stroke but if you hold it away from the ferrule, you’ll get more fluid stroke.
Third is whether you are painting with the tip of the brush or the belly of the brush.
And forth is how much pressure you apply on the brush. while painting.
Now that we have seen how to hold the brush let’s look at the types of brush strokes it can make
[ Watch the video to understand this better. ]
1. Long horizontal for distant grass / land
2. Short and vertical for grass in the mid ground.
3. Long vertical for grass in the foreground
4. Corner flick for foliage or thin lines
5. Edge vertical for thin vertical tree
6. Side vertical for medium thickness tree
7. Vertical flip up for grass against a bush
8. Rolling for foliage
If you go ahead and combine these strokes you’ll get many more variations of such brush strokes.
Other advantage of using a flat brush is that you can cover a lot of area very fast and no time is wasted in changing the brushes.
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Since you have read till now, it’s time to tell you an unusual way to use the brush. Here it is.
Say you are painting a distant bush and want to suggest a few stems or branches that are lighter in color, just use the other end of the brush to make scratch marks when the color is still wet. Watch the video at 5:20 to see this.
One caution though, don’t overdo this otherwise it looks unnatural.
To watch how I use these brush strokes, watch live painting sessions where I have used the flat brush extensively. And until next time,
happy painting!
Mandar
Categories: Art Concept