NEWS AND RUMOURS: Brush up your painting

Games Workshop have announced that they are in the process of rebranding their paint brushes. They will be released on 18th July and the set will cost £33.10.
According to the GW website there will be 10 brushes in the set:

The Citadel Brush Set contains one Citadel Fine Detail Brush, one Citadel Detail Brush, one Citadel Standard Brush, one Citadel Basecoat Brush, one Citadel Large Brush, one Citadel Wash Brush, one Citadel Stippling Brush, one Citadel Small Drybrush, one Citadel Medium Drybrush and one Citadel Large Drybrush.

The stippling brush is new, I think, as is the wash brush and it seems like the tank brush has disappeared altogether.

The major change as far as I can see is an aesthetic one as GW have added colour coded handles on the brushes. I'm not sure how useful this actually is as no-one would store them upside down, surely?

I'm a fan of GW brushes and at about £3 per brush they are good value. Many people I know insist that cheapo brushes bought at their local art supplies store are just as good but funnily enough I find that they don't usually have very well painted models. At the other end of the spectrum I have heard that some painters think GW brushes are sub-par and use very expensive brands instead.

I have used GW brushes extensively and been largely happy with them but over the past two or three years I have experimented with other types of brushes, mostly the Winsor and Newton range. I tried Cotman's, Series 7's and the Galeria brushes and I'm yet to be blown away. Even the W&N brushes I am using now have curled tips and I know I look after them correctly, but some of my GW brushes I've had for years are perfectly straight. I just fail to see why I should pay more for a product which I find harder to source for negligible improvements.

So I'd recommend this GW set and if you look after them I guarantee that you'll still be using some of the brushes in many years time. In fact I might just splurge on a set myself.