What brushes do you use for Acrylic Painting?

Hey everyone! Jed here with Acrylic University. Today I've got a very quick blog post for you all to answer a question I get asked often: What brushes do you use?

I use Princeton Catalyst Polytip Brushes for almost all of my work, primarily flats. I use sizes ranging from 4 to 16. I use size 10 and 12 a majority of the time.

acrylic painting brushes princeton catalyst size 10 and 12

I love these brushes for a couple reasons. 1) They have a firmness / stiffness about them that allows me to push paint really easily around my palette and canvas. It's hard to describe unless you feel it yourself, but that's the best way I can describe it. 2) Princeton uses polytip bristle technology for these brushes.

This is a technology that splits the end of each bristle - making it ideal for painting with Acrylics. Why is this polytip technology so useful? Here's what I've found:

The brush holds a LOT of paint which is great for Acrylics.
The polytip technology gives the brush a 'soft' feel that works wonderfully with the firmness of the brush. This gives the brush a very sturdy and 'responsive' feel to it.
The brush doesn't lose quality after frequent exposure to water. This usually isn't the case with other types of natural brushes.

Overall, you can't go wrong with Princeton Catalyst Brushes. Most professional artists I know use these brushes and swear by them. Hope this helps! Happy painting

If you're interested in getting your own set, you can purchase the brushes HERE. (Acrylic University gets a small kickback if you purchase using this link. Thank you)!

Brushstrokes you can achieve with Princeton Catalyst brushes

To give you some inspiration on how you can use these brushes, we created a video on some different Acrylic Painting brushstrokes and how to achieve them.

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Acrylic Painting Supplies for ABSOLUTE Beginners!

By Jed Dorsey • February 8, 2025

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