Which Brushes Does Bob Ross Use? Good Alternative?

Bob Ross uses 4 types of paintbrushes:

1.  1-inch brush
2.  2-inch brush
3. Fan Brush
4. Liner brush

Those brushes’ main elements are natural bristles. Combining the 4 types of brush, he creates wonderful paintings. In this article, I give you some important hints that you may find.

• Brush recommendations
• Alternative brush
• Some important tricks and tips. 🙂

In other articles, I already explained:

• What did bob ross use to clean brushes?
• Bob ross blender brush vs. Background brush.

Which brush should I choose for Bob Ross painting? And alternative?

Bob Ross recommended using natural bristle hair for wet on wet technique. And he regularly uses natural hair brushes in the “Joy of Painting.” So as Bob Ross recommendation, natural hair is the best. However, the time has changed. Now synthetic brushes do a great job, even sometimes better than natural hair brushes. Today, different bob ross brushes use synthetic hair and do a good job of using specific criteria. If you are a beginner and find an alternative bob ross brand, try to choose natural bristle hair brushes because the brush is the most important part of the painting. When you achieve the bob ross technique, you can choose syntactic brushes. In the bellow, I attach different important bob ross brushes and some alternatives. My recommendation, go with bob ross materials.

Complete brushes set

You can go for a complete set of Bob Ross brushes if you have a good budget. The price will be a little bit high but worth it.

	Grade	Note
Bob Ross Landscape Brush Set Oil Based Paint Tools	Artistic grade and Bob Ross brand	You will get complete set of brush and painting knives (total 13 pieces) and a Joy of Painting book.

1-inch brush

Bob Ross uses 1-inch brushes to create base effects in painting. He mostly uses the brush to make trees, clouds, mountains, water, brush, and other effects.

	Grade	Note
Martin/F. Weber Bob Ross 1-Inch Foliage Brush	Artistic grade and Bob Ross certified	This brush specialty can easily achieve a wonderful foliage effect. Its hair is softer than the landscape brush. It is a recommended brush as a blender. This brush will give you a smooth finish. You only can buy this brush for 1-inch criteria.
Martin/ F. Weber Bob Ross 1-Inch Landscape Brush	Artistic grade and Bob Ross certified	This brush is mostly used to create landscapes in wet on wet technique. The 2-inch brush is also used for the same reason.
Wooster Brush Q3108-1 Softip Paintbrush	General brush & cheap alternative	It is very hard to find an alternative option for Bob Ross brushes. However, you can use this brush as a cheap option. I do not recommend it for beginners.

2 inches brush

The 2 inches brush is used to create the shape of scenery in painting. Bob Ross uses this brush from the very beginning of his painting. He creates the sea, water, sky, lighting, and more objects. This 2-inch brush has 2 versions.

1. background brush
2. Blender brush

	Grade	Note
Martin/ F. Weber Bob Ross 2-Inch Background Blender Brush	Artistic grade and Bob Ross certified	This background brush is used to create the background of Bob Ros’s painting technique. The flat brush hair is a little bit harder than the banding brush. The harder hair is important for separating the many paints on the canvas.
Martin/F. Weber Bob Ross 2-Inch Blender Brush	Artistic grade and Bob Ross certified	It is a soft and good blender brush and I like it. However, I have recommended a 1-inch blender brush before. That is the best one from my side.
Santa Fe Art Supply 2 Inch Flat Brush	Artistic grade	This brush can be a good alternative. If you have some experience with Bob Ross technique, you can go with the brushes.

Fan brush

Bob Ross used the fan brush to make different objects like trees, little clouds, water highlights, and more. 

The brush also uses for highlights different objects. 

	Grade	Note
Bob Ross R6413#3 Fan Blender Artist Brush	Artistic grade and Bob Ross brand	Recommended product.
Winsor & Newton Winton Hog Bristle Brush-Fan #5	Artistic grade	It is one of the good fan brushes on the market. With proper use, you will get the right result.
ZEM Brush White Hog Bristle Stiff Fan Brush Set	Good brush	This is also a cheaper alternative. It also will give you good results.

Script Liner brush

Bob Ross uses script liner brush for creating little, thin, lite objects. Like old trees and different tinner objects. This brush is harder to master compared with others.

	Grade	Note
Bob Ross R6422#2 Script Liner Artist Brush	Artistic grade and Bob Ross brand	Recommended liner brush.
ZEM Brush Golden Synthetic Long Script Liners Brushes	Good brushes	It is a synthetic brush, however, it gives great results for creating tinner objects.

Do you need Bob Ross’ paint brushes to use his wet-on-wet technique?

Bob Ross Paint brushes are specially designed for the wet-on-wet technique. The brushes are easy to master for any beginner. Most of the brushes are unique, and very hard to find an alternative. Especially, 1-inch and 2 inches blending brush alternative find very hard. But for fan brush and liner brush, you can easily find alternatives that I mentioned. However, I strongly recommend for go with the Bob Ross brush. They are great, no matter if you are a newbie or a professional.

What material are Bob Ross brushes made of?

Bob Ross blending brushes hair made with natural bristle, which is soft and of great quality. Other brush hair is made with natural or synthetic bristles or mixed. The material makes it easy to use and beginner friendly. The brush looks premium and professional.

Does Bob Ross anytime use synthetic brushes?

Bob Ross does not use synthetic brushes in the show ‘The joy of painting.’ His favorite regular brush is natural bristle hair brush.