sizes used in painting?

Question: What are the most popular brush shapes/sizes used in painting!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

It depends on what medium you are using!. I do watercolors, and the brushes I use would NOT be the same that an acrylic or oil artist would use!.
Because watercolors are so fluid, the brushes can be very soft, to medium stiff!. A hard brush can be used to 'lift' unwanted paint from the paper!.
My favorite brush right now is a #12 squirrel round!. I also have a round brush about the same size made from sable, but it is a cheap sable!. Not a BAD sable, but the best brushes in sable (which are the FINEST brushes you can get for watercolor), are VERY expensive!.
Oils and acrylics need stiffer brushes to move the paint, because the paint is so much thicker!.
But for ANY medium, you will want Rounds and Flats, in various sizes!. You will also want a couple of Filbert brushes in one or two different sizes!. And a Fan brush!.
The rounds should be very tiny, (I think they go down to 0000), up to about a 16!. The flats should be from 1/4" up to 2+"!. The better the hair making up the brush, the more expensive!.
And keeping your brushes clean and taking good care of them will make them last for years!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I paint in acrylics and oil!. I pretty much go for the cheap brushes, but i stay away from watercolor brushes, they are just too too soft!. I like the bristles brushes with white tips, also like the orange colored tips and the white tips soft brush but has a firm look about them!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I paint in oils and favor a filbert and a pointed round!.Www@QuestionHome@Com