Can’t you just shave a goat or a squirrel and wait for the hair to grow back?

I watched the program “country file” last night and it featured fur from China and Denmark, it is a multi-billion industry, so fur not used is a complete waste of the animals life.
I have synthetics but most are Escoda Versatil or Prado, they are very good but don’t carry a lot of paint/water

I use the Escoda Ultimo Mop in conjunction with Jackson’s White toray (rebranded Escoda Perlas. The no14 has a perfect point, sharper than no7 Pro Arte Prolene plus and DaVinci Cosmotop Mix – natural no8. In the case of the DaVinci there’s no “point” to talk about, really…
I’m totally happy with the Escodas to the point where I’m not interested in trying other natural hair or synthetics. I believe the extra capacity of the natural hair brushes doesn’t represent a real practical advantage – more to do with psychological comfort perhaps. ..

With the exception of two squirrel mops I bought when I first took up painting 3 years ago, all my brushes are synthetic (and I’ll replace these 2 with synthetic brushes too). I love the Escoda Versatils, they hold plenty of paint and have a lovely fine point for detail. I can’t compare them to sable though as I don’t use them. My 1″ flat is a Pro-Arte Prolene; while it doesn’t hold loads of paint it has a great snap and makes lovely crisp edges. My rigger is a Daler Rowney, it’s a very good brush and easy to control once you get the hang of it, it makes lovely fine lines and holds plenty of paint. My other brushes are mainly Cotmans, they are what I learnt to paint with and for the price they are very good.

I have used both high-quality synthetic and natural hair brushes in the past and present. First, I would like to establish that as of all the brands I’ve tried, none of the 100% synthetic brushes work exactly like a natural hair brush in that they typically hold less paint and water, but I personally don’t find it to be a detriment.

I have both an Escoda Reserva pointed round 8 and an Escoda Versatil round 10. The Reserva has a wider belly and holds much more paint and water than the Versatil. The versatil does not really have a brush belly; it sort of just goes straight to a point from the ferrule, which I think is characteristic of most smaller synthetic brushes. The versatil is probably the best synthetic I’ve tried in terms of paint and water retention, however; it holds quite a bit of water and releases it slowly.

I have both an Escoda Ultimo size 18 round and an Isabey petit gris quill, size 4. The Escoda Ultimo line is supposed to be a synthetic squirrel, and this one interestingly does have a bit of a belly, although the ferrule is a traditional crimped metal ferrule. The 18 is obviously bigger than the Isabey 4, but I would say they hold about the same water during actual painting (I try to test them during painting sessions rather than doing some systematic approach. I am employed in a STEM field, but I just personally like to judge art supplies in practice rather than see how long of a line it can paint XD). The Isabey is floppier and is able to release a more concentrated wash of paint when it first touches paper, which I find is characteristic of a lot of natural hair brushes.

I have also tried Silver Brush Black Velvet brushes, which are a blend of natural hair and synthetic. Again, an obvious belly because of the natural hair, and the pointed rounds in this line hold about as much water/paint as the Escoda Reserva (I had a size 8 in both lines at one point). Extremely sharp point, and it’s floppy because of the natural squirrel, but also has a bit of a snap because of the synthetic. However, one major difference I found between the Escoda Reserva and the Silver Brush Black Velvet is that the black velvet is better for softening hard edges than the Reserva; the reserva kind of scrubs off more paint than I’d like when I’m trying to use it to blend out edges. For this reason, I find the black velvet line to be better for glazing.

I’ve also tried out Princeton Neptune and Grumbacher Goldenedge. The Princeton Neptune line are beautifully constructed brushes (just as beautiful as the Escoda lines; the two of them are my favorite in terms of construction) and holds more water than the goldenedge, but does not hold as much water/paint as a natural hair brush. I can compare a cheap goat hake to a 1″ Princeton Neptune aquarelle flat–the hake definitely will give you juicier and more potent washes.

I have also tried some cheap Pro-Art natural hair calligraphy brushes. Note that these were CHEAP and I don’t have any experience with nice calligraphy brushes, but I found that they were floppy, but held about as much water/paint as my synthetics. I didn’t like them.

That being said, I prefer synthetics for a couple of reasons. While I don’t want to encourage irresponsible harvesting of animal fur either, I find that synthetics are just more economical for my painting style. I don’t consider myself to be a harsh painter; I typically don’t scrub too much, and I may lift only one or two times in a single painting. However, I hate changing brushes while painting. I will stick to using max three or four brushes in a single painting, and don’t change brushes for different purposes such as scrubbing or pulling paint from paint wells. The point on my Escoda Reserva was gone within 8 months of painting weekly; the points on my Silver brush black velvets are still okay after 1.5 years of on and off use. All of my recent brush purchases have been synthetic because I find them more durable, and even if the points disappear, I won’t be dropping $50 on a replacement every time.

I also find that the quality of my paintings aren’t any different whether I use natural hair brushes or synthetics. It’s kind of like painting on different kinds of paper–different kinds of hair in brushes will just require slightly different techniques. At the end of the day, even if I were stuck with those cheap calligraphy brushes, I’ll probably still be able to make the same paintings as long as I have excellent paper and good paints. I’ll just grumble a lot about how awful the brushes are.

I’m looking forward to trying some Raphael Soft Aqua quills in the future, whenever my Escoda Ultimo 18 and Isabey 4 retire. I’ve heard excellent things about them.

Tim Wilmot’s channel on Youtube features works with synthetics such as the Raphael Soft Aqua line. I hear Joseph Zbuvic absolutely loves the Escoda Perla line as well. Alvaro Castagnet, on the other hand, swears by his line of natural squirrel mops, but also uses smaller synthetics for details because of their point and shape retention. All down to what your individual painting style is!

Like Virgil, I start my Students out with good synthetic brushes. Adjusting to the stages of wetness is a really steep learning curve, so there’s lots of time to ease them into wet-in-wet applications.

Their kit includes a #12, #10, #8, #6 and #2 rounds along with a 1″ flat wash brush. The store brand offered by Curry’s here in Canada is an excellent quality brush that holds lots of water, keeps their points and still have some amount of “snap” for controlled elements.