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Written by Kiara Maharaj, 07July 2024.
My brushes have always been like my little friends, magic wands that help me apply paint and create scenes I imagine. When I first started painting, I had one or two good brushes that I treated very carefully. Slowly as my business grew, so did my brush collection. Still, I didn't know too much about the making of a brush, or any of the work that went into designing one. Enter Craftamo.
In January or so I received an email from Craftamo - a company that collaborates with social media artists to create one-of-a-kind brush sets, dubbed the "World's Most Unique Paint Brushes". They had reached out to me to ask if I would be interested in such a collaboration, to design my very own set however I wanted, and they would manufacture and distribute it. I took the opportunity immediately, not only because it would be an added income stream to my business, but because I had a specific brush design in mind I've been dreaming about. My forest brush friends!
In the next few months I think I learned everything there is to know about paint brushes - from the type of materials used, to the parts of a brush, sizes, colors, marketing them, what artists use them for. I needed to decide so many attributes, among which there were so many options, and Craft Amo had given me full control of it. What types of brushes did I use most often? Round brushes? Riggers? Cat's Tongue?
I started with creating a vision board. Scrolling through pinterest. Examining my favourite brushes at an art supplies store and what made them stand out to me. I knew I wanted to make them look like they stepped out of a forest. So green handles were a must.
I also wanted the type of brushes to be able to aid the artist to paint trees and foliage quickly and easily, like a digital artist's brush. My favorite foliage brush - the round brush size 10 - was the first to be includes in the set. Specifically loving how you can create both incredibly detailed lines and thicker lines and circular shapes with the same stroke just by altering the pressure. It's my go-to for painting quick leaf bunches with a thin stem. And usually after this brush I go in with detail using a smaller round brush, size 0 or 2. The size 2 is even more perfect for adding what I like to call "forest floor litter" - impressions of fallen leaves, twigs, grass changes and so much much more that goes on in the ground that would take ages to paint. A good brush is a brush that an artist can use to create impressions of these things without having to detail everything about it, especially things that are not the primary focus of a painting.
The next brushes to be included were my flat brushes. A large one for covering a lot of surface area and blocking in bigger shapes (size 8). And a smaller one (size 2) for blocking in the shape sticks, twigs, branches.
In this set, I also decided to include a teeny tiny rigger brush (size 0), due to some experiments where I use them to paint rain. They are also perfect to paint thin strands of grass, dust particles in the air that are being lit up by direct sunlight on a scene, and even rim lighting on a object.
At this point I felt like my set was pretty rounded up and I was happy with my decisions. Until I saw an angle brush - and all the vines I could paint with it. Finally I decided to add a size 0 angle brush to the set, and now it felt complete.
7 brushes in total.
The next step in the design process was the gift box. Each brush set comes wrapped in a beautiful gift box with my artwork on the cover. I admit, this step was even more nerve wrecking and exciting than the designing the brush set itself. The cover is the first thing people see! The first thing that will leave an impression about the brushes. And the options for artwork I could have on it were endless.
I ended up selecting one of my most lucky creatures - I call this guy my lucky creature because whichever product I printed him on was the first to sell at conventions, on my online shop. The painting process of this illustration was also one of my first videos to go viral. Since then I take The Moss Dragon with me everywhere.
But for the cover art, I repainted the dragon on black paper - since I wanted the entire set to inspire somebody to pick up some black paper, a relatively unconventional surface to paint on (but my absolute favourite). The quiet black page is the perfect place for whimsy, like a night sky.
Here's a mockup:
Like with everything, I always go above and beyond what's required of me on a project. Coupled with my excitement, I may have bugged the team at Craftamo with all the images and artworks and content I was making for the brushes, and to get the brush set to its audience. We slowly built up an email list (which you can still join to get updates on the set straight to your inbox).
Some facts:
I am so excited and proud of the work on this project. If you'd like to create some mossy artworks with these brushes for yourself, please remember to sign up on my brushes page here to get notified immediately of the launch and grab yours before it sells out. I'll also be going live on my Instagram on the launch day and time to celebrate - and we'll be having a special discount for viewers.
Thank you for reading and making my dreams come true.
With love and magic,
Kiara.