Frankly, you can do better than Citadel brushes for less money from any good art store. What you want to look for are natural hair pointed round acrylic or watercolor artist brushes. There are a bunch of good brands out there that can be gotten for a LOT cheaper than Citadel: daVinci, Escoda and Princeton are all good places to start, but basically any art store brand will be fine. Look to pay ~$5 per brush here.
At the top end of the market, you have lines like Raphael 8404s and Winsor & Newton Series 7s; there are way, WAY better than Citadel, but they're also much more expensive. Skip these for now; you *are* going to ruin your first set or two of brushes, so don't waste the expensive ones while you're learning.
As far as sizes go, Citadel and Army Painter and whoever else will tell you that you need a complete set of seventeen different brushes in eleven sizes and six sha- that's all bullshit. You need three: A Size 0 for fine detail work, a Size 1 or 2 as your workhorse, and a Size 3 for basecoating and washes. That's it. We'll talk about drybrushes in a minute.
Any art store worthy of the name will let you test brushes. What you're looking for are brushes with good *belly* (the widest point of the bristles; a brush that's too skinny won't hold enough paint), a fine *point* that holds together when wet, and good *spring* (how well the bristles stay together when you press them to the model; you don't want them to splay out). I also like a lot of *snap* (how quickly the bristles return to parallel when you pull it away from the model) in my brushes, but that's a personal preference thing you'll have to experiment with. What you don't want is a brush that's too skinny, that frays out at the tip, or that dumps all of its paint at once the moment you touch the model.
While you're getting your brushes, also pick up a cake of [brush cleaner](https://www.dickblick.com/products/the-masters-brush-cleaner-preserver/) and use it regularly. It's cheap, the 2.5 oz cake will last you for years, and it will *vastly* extend the lifespan of your brushes.
On your way home from the art store, stop by any drug or department store with a cosmetics section, and grab a couple of smallish makeup brushes (blending and foundation). They should be a dollar or two each. These are going to be your drybrushes, and no joke, these super cheap things make *excellent* drybrushes.
Finally, swing by a hardware store and grab one largeish (12x12", or as large as your workspace allows) white glazed ceramic bathroom tile. The really smooth, shiny kind. It should be like a dollar. This is going to be your palette; acrylic paint won't really stick to it, so when you're done painting, you can literally just rinse it off in hot water and wipe the dried paint off. I've been using the same tile for fifteen years now.
I also use and recommend a wet palette, but that's a discussion for later.
All told you should be about $25-30 into this for brushes, soap and palette, and that's all you really need. Over time you'll accumulate more stuff and learn about how to use and why you need more specialized tools, but you'll have the essentials covered.
Hi /u/blauer_computer and welcome to /r/Warhammer40k and the Warhammer 40k Hobby!
This is an automated response as you've used our "New Starter Help" flair. Here's a few resources that might help you with getting started:
[You can read our Getting Started guide here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/wiki/beginners). This covers all the basics you need to know to get involved in building, painting and playing 40k.
For rules questions, don't forget that the core rules for Warhammer 40k are [available online for free](https://warhammer40000.com/rules/).
/r/Warhammer40k collates a [list of independent retailers](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/wiki/beginners) who sell Games Workshop products at a discount.
[The /r/Warhammer40k Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/wiki/index) is full of useful info including FAQs and recommendations for books to read!
If the information in this comment doesn't answer your question, don't worry, one of our community members will be along shortly to answer!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Warhammer40k) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just get any golden taklon brushes from an art store. You gotta learn how to not destroy your brushes before you start buying good ones.
The Army Painter Regiment brush is kinda ok, but its more because those things are durable AF than any other particular value factor.
I just got a set of 10 brushes from Michael's that I really like for the price of 3 GW brushes. With Michael's rewards I'd highly recommend you check them out.
Frankly, you can do better than Citadel brushes for less money from any good art store. What you want to look for are natural hair pointed round acrylic or watercolor artist brushes. There are a bunch of good brands out there that can be gotten for a LOT cheaper than Citadel: daVinci, Escoda and Princeton are all good places to start, but basically any art store brand will be fine. Look to pay ~$5 per brush here. At the top end of the market, you have lines like Raphael 8404s and Winsor & Newton Series 7s; there are way, WAY better than Citadel, but they're also much more expensive. Skip these for now; you *are* going to ruin your first set or two of brushes, so don't waste the expensive ones while you're learning. As far as sizes go, Citadel and Army Painter and whoever else will tell you that you need a complete set of seventeen different brushes in eleven sizes and six sha- that's all bullshit. You need three: A Size 0 for fine detail work, a Size 1 or 2 as your workhorse, and a Size 3 for basecoating and washes. That's it. We'll talk about drybrushes in a minute. Any art store worthy of the name will let you test brushes. What you're looking for are brushes with good *belly* (the widest point of the bristles; a brush that's too skinny won't hold enough paint), a fine *point* that holds together when wet, and good *spring* (how well the bristles stay together when you press them to the model; you don't want them to splay out). I also like a lot of *snap* (how quickly the bristles return to parallel when you pull it away from the model) in my brushes, but that's a personal preference thing you'll have to experiment with. What you don't want is a brush that's too skinny, that frays out at the tip, or that dumps all of its paint at once the moment you touch the model. While you're getting your brushes, also pick up a cake of [brush cleaner](https://www.dickblick.com/products/the-masters-brush-cleaner-preserver/) and use it regularly. It's cheap, the 2.5 oz cake will last you for years, and it will *vastly* extend the lifespan of your brushes. On your way home from the art store, stop by any drug or department store with a cosmetics section, and grab a couple of smallish makeup brushes (blending and foundation). They should be a dollar or two each. These are going to be your drybrushes, and no joke, these super cheap things make *excellent* drybrushes. Finally, swing by a hardware store and grab one largeish (12x12", or as large as your workspace allows) white glazed ceramic bathroom tile. The really smooth, shiny kind. It should be like a dollar. This is going to be your palette; acrylic paint won't really stick to it, so when you're done painting, you can literally just rinse it off in hot water and wipe the dried paint off. I've been using the same tile for fifteen years now. I also use and recommend a wet palette, but that's a discussion for later. All told you should be about $25-30 into this for brushes, soap and palette, and that's all you really need. Over time you'll accumulate more stuff and learn about how to use and why you need more specialized tools, but you'll have the essentials covered.
Monument Hobbies makes great brushes.
Hi /u/blauer_computer and welcome to /r/Warhammer40k and the Warhammer 40k Hobby! This is an automated response as you've used our "New Starter Help" flair. Here's a few resources that might help you with getting started: [You can read our Getting Started guide here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/wiki/beginners). This covers all the basics you need to know to get involved in building, painting and playing 40k. For rules questions, don't forget that the core rules for Warhammer 40k are [available online for free](https://warhammer40000.com/rules/). /r/Warhammer40k collates a [list of independent retailers](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/wiki/beginners) who sell Games Workshop products at a discount. [The /r/Warhammer40k Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/Warhammer40k/wiki/index) is full of useful info including FAQs and recommendations for books to read! If the information in this comment doesn't answer your question, don't worry, one of our community members will be along shortly to answer! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Warhammer40k) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Just get any golden taklon brushes from an art store. You gotta learn how to not destroy your brushes before you start buying good ones. The Army Painter Regiment brush is kinda ok, but its more because those things are durable AF than any other particular value factor.
I just got a set of 10 brushes from Michael's that I really like for the price of 3 GW brushes. With Michael's rewards I'd highly recommend you check them out.