How To Improve Your Brush Skills For Paint By Numbers

With Paint By Numbers, the joy of painting is amplified profoundly, especially for those who’d rather dive straight into the act of painting without the task of having to map out an image with a pencil beforehand. It’s a great way for beginners to learn and put to practice different techniques of applying paint and working with the various brush types. Art can be an incredibly therapeutic activity but just like any creative hobby, there are small factors to keep in mind that can help you improve and feel more confident with the craft. How you handle and use the brushes can make a dramatic impact on the outcome of the painting. We are going to highlight a few simple ways to use your brushes that may help you during your process.  

Different Brushes Are For Different Areas  

When looking at a typical set of PBN brushes, it can be somewhat confusing at first. There are three brushes – a large, medium, and a small brush. This is because different brushes create different effects on the canvas and some are better suited to certain areas than others. For instance, the smallest brushes are great for small details such as stars in a starry night sky or delicate facial features such as eyelashes. The largest brushes are best suited for background or base colours. This generally applies to the larger sections of the painting. They’re there to help you avoid excess brush strokes and create that nice flat colour effect without bleeding over the lines. The medium brushes are great for creating textures in certain areas and over flat colour.  

Use Water Throughout  

When starting to paint, it's important to have all the correct resources at a reachable distance. Having a jar of clean water as part of your kit will help immensely along the way. Not only is it there as an aid to clean brushes between colour changes, but it can also act as a brilliant tool to dilute the paints. When applying the paint, the effect is often ruined if the application is too thick and saturated. Painting is best done in layers and adding some water to your brush before dipping it in the paint will allow for a much smoother application and less of a thick, sticky look which can also be tricky to fix if you do happen to make a mistake.  

Clean Your Brushes  

One of the most important steps to infiltrate into your painting regime is to keep those brushes clean! Excess paint on the brush will dry out quickly and ruin the softness and longevity of your brush hairs. Using a brush hardened by paint will also be very difficult to work with. We recommend adding a small amount of nail varnish remover to some water to keep them in good shape.  

Paint By Numbers makes the enjoyment of creating art accessible and fun for people of all ages and artistic levels. However, while the numbers help make the process more straight forward, handling the brushes can be a challenge in itself. By following these pointers you’ll be on the way to mastering the glorious process of painting in no time at all. Visit us on our website and order your PBN kit today to start creating your masterpieces.