Art Supply Collector : Watercolour Brush

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Aku pengumpul. Rasanya ramai dah tahu tapi aku kena gak bagitau sebab, kumpul dan terer pakai ni dua benda yang sangat berbeza.

Terbaru koleksi aku banyak menjurus ke arah perkakas cat air. Dulu kumpul water brush sekarang aku dah sedikit berani nak pakai traditional paintbrush. Aku tak arif sangat berkenaan berus-berus ni tapi berdasarkan pemahaman aku yang tak seberapa, boleh la aku kongsikan sikit.

Berus cat air ni ada banyak jenis (duh). Dari segi bentuknya, aplikasi, material dan lain-lain lagi lah. Dari segi bentuk aku personally kategorikan berus cat air kepada dua jenis, flat dan round brush. Aku tak pakai flat brush. A bit intimidating to me. Aku pakai round brush. SO aku akan bincang pasal round brush sahaja.

Dari segi material berus cat air ni terbahagi kepada 3 jenis (at least. Of course korang boleh micro categorize lagi tapi ni personal view aku)

Type 1: Water brush

Waterbrush ni memang versatile. Bagi yang baru nak berjinak dengan cat air, sama ada pakai cake form ataupun tube form, aku syorkan pakai waterbrush. Waterbrush ada small water reservoir dalam body dia. Cara pakai pun senang. Kena belajar control air dalam reservoir tu. Kebaikan waterbrush ni ko tak payah bawak water container untuk mixing atau untuk washing. Perfect for travelling watercolour journalist.

Apa yang membezakan sesuatu brand adalah water stopper dan brush material dia. Water stopper memastikan air tak tumpah dari reservoir kalau tak dipicit. Kan susah nak kaler kalau air asyik dripping uncontrollably. Memandangkan aku cuma pernah try 3 brand, mungkin aku bukanlah orang yang tepat untuk bagi contoh stopper yang bagus atau tak.

Untuk brush material pulak, kebanyakan waterbrush pakai sintetik hair sebab sintetik hair lebih tahan air, tak mudah rosak kalau terendam lama. Kalau dah nama waterbrush, of course la manjang je basahnya. Semua waterbrush aku pakai sintetik hair.



Sakura Brush - free brush masa beli Koi Watercolour. Least favourite brush. Air dia susah control. Tapi bagus untuk illustrasi yang besar. Aku banyak lukis illustrasi yang kecik dan detail so brush ni memang tak kena ngan aku.

Derwent Brush - Macam yang aku bagitau tadi, aku banyak kaler benda detail. Fine brush No.1 dia memang terbaik untuk mewarna benda-benda kecik. Masalah dia, tengah syok-syok kaler dia start dripping. Tak teruk pun but it caught you of guard sometimes.

Kuretake Fude Waterbrush - Hands down, my favorite child. Fine brush dia tak sehalus Derwent No.1 tapi brush hair dia lebih pendek which means, better control. Untuk medium size area, brush ni memang best pakai. Reservoir yang paling mudah nak control.

So ni tiga waterbrush yang aku personally pakai. Berus ni la yang memperkenalkan aku pada the joy of watercoloring. Super easy to maintain, durable and dependable. Whip out one of these and you're good to go. Aku siapkan Journal India aku entirely using waterbrush. Great time..

Tapi lama-lama rasa la nak try berus lain pulak, ye dak? Which brings us to..

Type 2 : Synthetic Hair

Sintetik brush adalah berus yang paling senang nak dapat dan murah. Kalau rosak, sekejap je dah boleh ganti. Aku rasa semua orang yang pernah dipaksa mewarna guna Buncho zaman sekolah dulu mesti dah pernah pakai berus ni. Mak ayah pun lebih selesa beli berus sintetik sebab yakin suci. Tak campur berus babi. Gittew. Personally aku hanya guna sintetik brush untuk bersihkan mixing plate dan untuk apply masking fluid. Selain dari dua tugas ni, memang aku tak percaya nak pakai. Tapi ni depends jugak brand apa yang ko pakai. Kalau pakai Windsor & Newton, sintetik brush dia berkualiti dan ada jugak yang mix dengan natural hair so confident la sikit nak pakai untuk apply colour. Macam berlagak gila ayat tak suka pakai sintetik brush. In my defense, aku beli sintetik brush yang kualiti tak berapa cantik. Jaga pun sambil lewa. Sebab tu la hasil dia pun tak lawa.

Type 3: Natural Hair

Berus cat air diperbuat dari berbagai jenis bulu. Bulu kambing, babi, kuda, musang dan sebagainya. The most expensive ones are made from Kolinsky, a type of mink native to Western Russia. Binatang ni macam musang pandan la lebih kurang. Ewah lebih kurang. To be honest aku tak tau binatang ni dipanggil apa dalam bahasa melayu.

The smallest Raphael Kolinsky could easily cost you RM60 (more or less. Lupa harga dia). Winsor & Newton Series 7 Gift Set (3 brushes) cost you a whooping RM300. Kalau tak silap aku Series 7 is the most expensive Kolinsky brush. Agaknya natang weasel tu makan dedak mahal kot tu yang mahal. Lebih besar saiz berus tu lebih mahal harganya. So kepada yang minat sable hair brushes, good luck.

Apa yang bagus sangat dengan sable hair ni sampai harga minta pelempang? First of all, anything natural is expensive. Especially when the material is only native to a certain part of the world and had been hyped as the best for centuries. Secondly, sable brushes are usually assembled by hand, strand by strand. It is labor intensive and quality controlled environment. Can you blame them for pricing it so high? Lastly, the quality and demand.

From my observation, the sable brush could retain a lot of liquid in it. The brush springs back easy retaining it's shape easily after each wash. Bila berus tu boleh kekalkan bentuk dengan baik, takde la berus tu bercabang-cabang sampai stroke pun jadi tebal dan tak sekata. 

Selain Kolinsky, ada orang cadangkan aku untuk try goat hair. Bagus untuk heavy wash. But I don't do heavy wash so I'm still thinking about it. 

Sebelum aku tutup entry ni aku nak tekankan sesuatu. Doing art is not about having the most expensive tools. It's about finding what best suit you. Ada orang boleh hasilkan artwork yang lawa gila bila pakai water brush tapi bila switch ke natural brush terus tak selawa pakai water brush and vice versa. It all comes down to how you interact with the tools you have. I for one prefer A4 paper 80 gsm when doing watercolor instead of the sturdy 300 gsm cold pressed cotton paper. Other than warping. printing paper is amazing! And unlike many watercolor enthusiasts, I prefer hot pressed paper than the cold pressed ones. So again.. It's not about the price. It's what suit your style. What suit others might not suit you. Stop comparing your art with others. Instead compare it with your own artwork and see the difference the tools make.

I don't want to sound conceited when talking about tools. As I said in my opening, I am a collector. Being a collector doesn't make me an expert but it does open up opportunity to try more tools. To those who knows me, I don't shy away from letting people try my collection be it brushes, markers or papers. Because it's never about proving I'm better for having these tools. It's about trying new things and sharing my feelings about them.

So that's it. I hope you learn something from this sharing. Best of luck in your endeavor. Keep on doing things that makes you happy.

Adieu

7 comments:

  1. Aku rasa aku beli berus natural hair hari tu, patut la mahal nak menangis -___-

    Perkongsian yang menarik bae :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sabar bae.. Dah check betul bulu apa? kot2 bulu babi atau bulu pubis *meleis intensifies* HAHAHAHAH

      Delete
    2. Alamak aku tak ingat nama kedai aku pergi tu. The good thing is dia dah asingkan section berus halal dan tak halal. Lol. Besar2 dia tulis XD

      Delete
  2. Okeh, next art tool yang aku nak try ialah: Kuretake water brush. Betul la, sakura punya water brush tu jenuh gak aku nak control. Huhuh...

    Araa kolinsky-chan kawaiii~ X3



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fav!!
      Aku serius nk pegi somewhere with kita2 yang layan watercolour just untuk buat travel log. Ughh!! Please we should..

      Comel la weasel. Aku tak pernah kesah sen=belum but serius kawaii

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    2. Yikes baru perasan ada banyak ruang kosong kat bawah ayat last dalam komen aku kat atas ni... geh, I hate it when that happens, sorry monamieh for that accidental extra space ( "- 3 -)

      Owwwh yass I'd love to kaler-kaler with yew someday~ X3

      Aku punya traditional art style sekarang, lukis terus pakai pen or brush pen atas kertas, lepas tu hentam watakala terus. I don't bother to make any pencil sketch before inking and then erasing the pencil sketch anymore because:
      1) want to maintain the paper's original condition/quality when applying watakala...
      2) won't have to deal with the eraser's mess afterwards
      3) save more time (plus kurang rajin nak padam2 hahaha)

      So, pardon my messy and awkward art lines and strokes~

      (~ "^ w ^)~"

      Delete

The way you comment is so telling...

Day,


Part time normal, most of the time comic enthusiast. Almost always borderline crazy. Still experimenting with comic blogging. An engineer with a vision to not be taken seriously. Everything you read on this blog doesn't represent my gender, religion or profession as a whole. Other name you might associate with me are Deaday, DayGoon, JaeminGoon and *cough* Mona *cough*