Fun with a BendyBrush.

Panza

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Published on 06-12-2003 08:29 AM Number of Views: 22358

11 Comments

This is my first article, and as such I will be quite brief.I come to you today to talk about the BendyBrush and it's uses. I made my first BendyBrush by accident when I left a new (non sable) brush in my cleaning water for too long, and found it had acquired a bend at the tip that I couldn't straighten out. Calamity you might cry, but this brush has become one of my most useful tools, and I've continued to make more of them (in the time honoured way) as and when a brush has come to the end of its useful life, and shuffled off to PVA land.You see, there are some times when a straight pointed brush can be a slight hindrance. I always found it tricky to paint the edges of armour without paint spilling into the recesses between the plates.

The BendyBrush (should I trademark this?) removes this problem by allowing me to apply paint with the part of the brush just below the tip, the tip pointing upward and away from the recess,

and leaving a soft edge to the paint that could not be achieved if I turned the brush around and tried to apply the paint with the tip of the brush facing the centre of the plate.

As a bonus, if I need to apply paint into any recesses, I can turn the brush around with the bendy tip pointing towards the groove, and apply a line without having to worry about the paint on the rest of the brush going onto the edges of the armour.

Recently, and with my painting techniques improving, I've also found that painting folds in fabric is a lot easier if you don't have to worry about hard brush lines from the brush tip.

So, give it a try. Take a cheapish brush and put a bend in it, and you might find that it works for you.Panza.

11 Comments

finn17 - 06-15-2003, 02:53 PM

You can view the page at http://www.coolminiornot.com/article...endybrush&
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mouse - 06-15-2003, 08:03 PM

i personally own a few of these "BendyBrush" and i also found out the wonderful usage of it to fill recesses but never used it on folds.

Otherwise, these brushes are normally relegated to mere "Bendymixer" or "BendyPVAApplier".
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DELTADOG - 06-16-2003, 09:52 PM

I discovered it a few years ago since then my bendybrush is the holy cow in my brushset.
You showed this technique here very well and it is good to understand for beginners and that should be the demand of a good articel. Great work!!
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Corvus - 06-17-2003, 11:16 AM

I always love those articles that explain how you can reuse stuff that otherwise is put into the rubbish bin .

Good job Panza!
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vincegamer - 06-21-2003, 09:48 PM

I had figured out the painting in the crevas part, and I use the shape to make steady curls, but it never occurred to me to paint with the "back" of the bend. Thanks for a wonderful suggestion I can't wait to try out.
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QuietiManes - 06-28-2003, 09:14 AM

I've got a red sable I've been looking at wishing I didn't forget about it when my girlfriend called that time. Basicly just keeping it because I might be able to use it in terrain or something and I'm too lazy to throw it out. Weird how you can create a bendy brush and look at it everyday and never SEE the BendyBrush. Excellent stuff!
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heliodorus - 01-29-2004, 03:26 PM

Simple, effective. Good idea for a beginner like me.
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M.Heisler - 09-01-2007, 01:58 AM

This seems to happen to ALL my brushes. Rather quickly. Maybe it's a result of not taking care of them well enough.

I used to think that it meant that the brush was dead, but after learning to use it, I prefer a BendyBrush (tm) almost all the time. (Except for pinpoint details).

It's a very versatile tip! Like a chisel tip marker.
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krayt dragon - 11-08-2007, 01:50 AM

Almost all of my brushes are bendybrushes. They all end up that way. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do to prevent it. I didn't even know it was possible to prevent it. Like M. Heisler, I actually prefer it for most things.

I consider it part of the life cycle of a brush. First it's normal, then it's a bendy brush, then it becomes a drybrushing dusterbrush.
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teorible - 01-05-2009, 08:01 AM

Hail the bendy brush. I've been using those techniques for years, but never thought to coin a term for it. Thanks for this amusing article. Nice pics illustrating technique BTW.
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gringremlin - 03-18-2010, 12:04 PM

Great article. Years ago when I learned to paint I realised that my best brush was a "bendybrush". Odly enough but it was with that one I could do my thinest lines.
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