The Best Acrylic and Oil Painting Brushes UK

Written by Paul Worrall

Acrylic and oil brushes get lumped together in most buying guides, and honestly, that’s not unreasonable — both mediums are thicker and more demanding on bristles than watercolour, and a genuinly good brush for one usually copes perfectly well with the other. Where they differ is more about technique and cleaning than fundamentally different brush construction, so this is one guide covering both rather than two thin ones repeating themselves.

I learned the acrylic cleaning lesson the hard way, at my own kitchen table, courtesy of my two kids. Zach and Nancy had a rainy Sunday acrylic painting session a while back, and by the time we’d finished, cleared up, and got everyone fed, a handful of brushes had been left standing in a jam jar for a bit too long. By the following morning they were solid — completely unusable, paint set hard right up into the ferrule, no amount of soaking bringing them back. It was a genuinly expensive lesson in exactly the kind of thing I cover further down this guide, and one I now repeat to anyone who’ll listen: rinse acrylic brushes properly, immediately, every single time, or you’ll be replacing them far more often than your budget wants.

I’ve spent 16 years in the UK art supplies industry and now run Discount Art Supplies, used by over 41,000 UK artists every week. This is the honest breakdown of what’s actually worth buying.

1. Winsor & Newton Galeria Brushes — Best Overall

Galeria is genuinly the sensible all-rounder for anyone working across acrylic and oil, or moving between the two mediums regularly. The synthetic bristles are firm enough to handle thick, heavy-body acrylic without splaying, but versatile enough to also cope well with oil paint’s different consistency and drying behaviour.

It’s a mid-range price point that genuinly punches above its cost, and the range covers a proper spread of shapes and sizes rather than a token selection. For most painters, this is where I’d point them first rather than immediately reaching for specialist hog bristle or premium synthetic ranges.

2. Pro Arte Series B Hog — Best for Oil Painting

Natural hog bristle remains genuinly hard to beat for traditional oil painting technique — the coarse, springy texture holds thick paint well and creates the kind of visible brush texture many oil painters actively want in a finished piece, something synthetic bristles struggle to replicate convincingly.

Pro Arte’s Series B is a genuinly well-regarded British range, offering that classic hog bristle performance without premium continental European pricing. It’s less suited to acrylic, since acrylic’s faster drying time is harder on natural bristle over repeated use — worth keeping this range specifically for oil work.

3. Princeton Velvetouch — Best Synthetic All-Rounder

Velvetouch is a genuinly excellent modern synthetic blend, built to work convincingly across acrylic, oil and even watercolour without needing separate brushes for each. For anyone who doesn’t want to maintain three different brush sets for three different mediums, this is one of the more successful “one range does it all” options currently available.

It’s a premium synthetic rather than a budget option, but the versatility genuinly justifies the price for artists who work across multiple mediums regularly rather than sticking to just one.

4. Daler-Rowney System 3 Brushes — Best for Heavy Body Acrylic

System 3 brushes are built specifically to handle thick, heavy body acrylic without the bristles splaying or losing shape under the paint’s weight and resistance — a genuine problem with softer brushes when working with the thicker end of the acrylic consistency range. The firm synthetic bristles hold up well to acrylic’s fast drying time too, which punishes brushes that aren’t cleaned promptly.

It’s a sensible, well-priced UK range rather than a premium specialist purchase, and it does exactly what heavy body acrylic painters actually need without unnecessary extras.

5. Royal & Langnickel Zen Series — Best Budget Set

The Zen Series is a genuinly capable budget set covering a reasonable range of shapes and sizes, suitable for both acrylic and oil work without embarrassing compromises. It’s the sensible starting point for anyone new to either medium who wants to learn technique before spending premium money.

It won’t match the durability or precision of Galeria or Velvetouch over extended, serious use, and dedicated painters tend to move on from it fairly quickly. But as a genuine first set, it does the job properly.

Synthetic vs Natural Bristle — Which Actually Matters Here

For acrylic, synthetic is genuinly the better default choice almost across the board — natural bristle degrades faster under acrylic’s fast drying time and more frequent washing, and modern synthetics handle heavy body paint just as well as natural hair while lasting considerably longer.

For oil painting, natural hog bristle still has a genuine place, particularly for painters who want visible brush texture as part of the finished look. Synthetic oil brushes have improved significantly, but traditionalists still often prefer hog for that specific textural quality synthetics haven’t fully replicated.

Cleaning and Care

Acrylic’s biggest enemy is time — paint left to dry in the bristles is genuinly very difficult to remove and can ruin a brush permanently within minutes of drying. Rinse acrylic brushes in water immediately during breaks, never let them sit unattended for more than a few minutes.

Oil brushes need proper solvent cleaning (white spirit or a dedicated brush cleaner) followed by a wash with mild soap — rinsing in water alone won’t remove oil-based paint properly, and skipping the soap stage leaves residue that stiffens bristles over time.

Which Should You Buy?

If you want one solid range that handles both mediums well, Winsor & Newton Galeria is the sensible default. For dedicated oil painters who want genuine bristle texture, Pro Arte’s hog range is worth the specialist purchase. Princeton Velvetouch suits anyone working across multiple mediums who wants one premium range rather than several. Daler-Rowney System 3 is built specifically for heavy body acrylic. And Royal & Langnickel Zen is where to start if you’re new to either medium and want to learn before spending more.

To round out your kit, our guides to oil paints for beginners and miniature painting brushes are worth reading alongside this one.