Pitting My New Brushes Against Spider-Man’s Deadliest Enemies

Much like Peter Parker is always tweaking his web shooters so they respond efficiently during life-threatening battles with his super-powered foes, I, too, am constantly tweaking my art tools in an effort to produce better results. Not quite as life-threatening, but important nonetheless.

Note: Princeton Brushes do not make this cool sound effect.

With that In mind, I swung over to my local art store and picked up some new brushes. Princeton Velvetouch brushes. Would they be able to handle inking and watercolor the way my Winsor & Newton had? Only one way to find out. I sketched up some Spidey-villains and got to work.

With the Green Goblin, I tried a Number One Round brush. I needed a fine line, good variation with pressure, and I wanted to see if I could replace the Winsor & Newton brushes that had been arriving with splayed bristles.

Impressive. This brush tip could handle fine lines that I’d have normally used a MICRON to ink. And the belly of the brush held enough ink that, with the right pressure, it produced a line much like Spidey himself: dynamic and full of personality.

I thought it might be fun to try the brush on The Lizard. His reptile skin is a ruined landscape of hatched scales, scars, and wrinkles. If the number one round could handle all that, then I’d have a new favorite brush.

Again, I was happily surprised. The brush did exactly what I needed it to do. As I hatched and stippled and made marks on the hot press, the brush seemed like a natural extension of my hand…much like the lizard arm must have felt as it replaced Doc Connors’ own amputated limb.

Of course, as nice as I thought the results were with ink, I’d also planned to test these brushes with the watercolors to see how they held up. I grabbed a number four round and started slopping on color.

Right out of the gate, I should point out that one of the reasons the inks laid down so smoothly is because I chose hot press watercolor paper to draw on. It doesn’t have a lot of tooth, and ink takes to it like a symbiote to a host.

…speaking of teeth…

But that smooth, glassine surface doesn’t help a lot when you start dumping watercolor onto it. The paint doesn’t flow and blend as easily or predictably as it does on cold press paper and, as a result, almost sits on the surface in little puddles that have to be worked and worried over until they set.

But there are things you can do to avoid the hard edges of drying paint puddles. Much like Peter avoids going into battle without extra web fluid, you just have to prepare. Know the materials.

Hot press paper will respond better to watercolors if you don’t use too much water. That way you have a little more control over the drying process. I find the colors seem a little more concentrated and vibrant as a result.

Thanks to this little experiment, I think I’m going to go with Princeton Velvetouch brushes for a while. It’s too early to tell how they’ll hold up over time, and whether or not they’ll retain their crisp, sharp point. But let’s be honest. The lifespan and quality of a brush tip depends a lot on how you treat and maintenance it. With great bristles comes great responsibility.

If you want to see the experiment as it unfolded, you can view this week’s video below. Oh yeah, Michelle does an Ink It or Stink It this week. But if you think I let her use my new brushes, you’re nuttier than Norman Osborne: