FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set Announcement

Last Updated on December 5, 2022 by FauxHammer

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In 2015 I was coming back into miniature painting as a hobby after a 16 or so year hiatus. Having spent the previous decade testing & sourcing the best tools for a large UK IT repair operation. (Wera make the best screwdrivers FYI). I asked myself, what are the best brushes for painting miniatures? I then asked the community. Wrote about it and then tested them all myself. Well, this announcement post is me putting a full stop to my answer. With the Artis Opus – FauxHammer Starter Set.

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FauxHammer – Latest Video on YouTube

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Introduction

First off, let’s just have a look at it. I’ll talk about what and why in a moment, but here’s the set in its entirety in a nice clear photo rather than the blurred header image.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Complete Boxed

So, yes. I am biased, but I think this looks gorgeous!

Right ok, if you’ve followed FauxHammer for a while, you’ve likely come to appreciate our openness and honesty regarding the products we cover, and I’m not gonna pull any wool over your eyes here. This exists because I sat one-day thinking. “I want one of those boxes with my branding on”. That idea evolved and grew over the course of several months (over 2 years if you include covid) to now become what I believe is the best Artis Opus Starter Set currently available (IMHO).

If you’ve read our “Best Brushes for Painting Miniatures” article (It’s kind of a big deal), or watched any of our painting guide videos then you’ll know that my personal favourite brushes, for some years now, have been the Artis Opus range. If you’ve seen that article and are about to comment below this one saying “but you said Windsor and Newton are the best!”, My response comment will be – “tell me you didn’t read the article, without telling me you didn’t read the article”…

The point of that article has always been to express that “best” is a subjective term. because of that, the list was ranked by popularity only. But, as Bob Dylan famously said, “the times, they are a-changin'”.

You See the W&N brushes became famous in miniature painting, because of a long-running rumour that the ‘Eavy Metal team use W&N brushes. I’ve spoken with people on the team in the last couple of years and several have confirmed that yeah, most of them use the W&N Series 7. But that’s only the ‘Eavy Metal team. What we are looking at now is a tier above that.

The ‘Eavy Metal team are an incredible bunch of painters. I wish I could paint that well. But the artists above that, the god-tier guys. yeah, a good majority of them are using Artis Opus.

When I say god-tier, I’m talking David Soper, Richard Grey, Angel Giraldez to name just a few. In fact, it’s worth knowing that more than a small few of 2022’s Adepticon Golden Demon winners use Artis Opus brushes.

So when I say that I think Artis Opus make the best brushes. Hands-up, I admit that it’s my personal opinion and they are right for me. Just as they are for the many of best miniature painters in the world!

So I’m proud to have my name stamped on a box that will see you in the right direction for getting the best out of your Miniatures & Models.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Video

See this in action by watching the video below

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FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Summary

Whilst I get the pride of having our brand on the box, the point of this set to you, is to get the greatest starter set of Artis Opus Brushes. This is the first set they have done which provides a mix of ranges (S, M & D) in one box. The brushes have been carefully selected, not to only be complementary, but to also give you everything you need to paint a high-quality miniature from start to finish.

I’ll go into the brush selection details (what and why) in a mo.

The box above includes 5 brushes across all 3 of Artis Opus’s ranges along with a Dampening pad and pot of soap. This pairs neatly with the FauxHammer Branded Texture palette available in XL and XXL (sold separately).

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Texture Palette

You could choose any of Artis Opus’s Texture Palettes (which I recommend for the series D) based on your personal preference. But the XL FauxHammer palette comes in a neat bundle with the box – perfect for completionists.

The aim of this set is to get you started with a full range of top-quality brushes all contained within a nice neat package.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes

For those who follow our video guides and general approach to painting. You’ll know by now that I tend to prefer an approach that is all about keeping things simple. and one of my own steps is limiting the number of brushes I have on my table at any one time. I’ve found myself going to the same brushes again and again. In fact, the ones chosen for this set, are basically the brushes that I’ve used so frequently that I’ve had to replace them at least once in the last 2 years through general wear.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Complete

As a summary the set contains;

Series S #3 – For 99% of your paintwork, from basecoat to dotting eyes, this brush can do it all

Series S #1 – For edge highlighting, a smaller belly than the above to allow more control
Series M #0 – For the ultimate detail and control. perfect for freehand sketching
Series D Medium – Edge Highlighting & Blending on Infantry

Series D Extra Large (XL) – For Basecoating and larger models.

So let’s take a look at the brushes and their intended use in this set.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Series D XL

Starting with the Series D as it’s the order in which this set intends you to use the brushes in.

These are great for your initial base coats. Not only will this quickly cover most models and vehicles in a single colour of your choice using a stippling application. you can even create the majority of initial colour blends on armour.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Series D XL

Don’t have or care about an Airbrush? You can get a very similar style of application with this and it will even edge highlight for you at the same time.

Check out Artis Opus YouTube Channel for various techniques.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Series D Medium

The Medium Series D brush is what I use the most on general infantry. Personally, as you will have seen, I’m a huge fan of airbrushing. and for that, I’m in love with my Cult of Paint Infinity Airbrush. When painting batches of models, I’ll generally get all my baselayers down using that.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Series D Medium

But when it comes to edge highlighting (which is a slow arduous process that just irritates me), This is a fantastic brush to use to edge highlight smoothly in no time at all. See here.,

For example, watch 20 seconds of the video below from the point it starts at. (06:52)

Hopefully that proved the point.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Series S #3

This is “the” brush. No matter what you’re painting, this brush can probably do it. 90% of the time, this will be what I reach for. If I’m blocking in colour, blending or even painting eyes. this is the brush.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Series S #3

The largest of the standard brushes in the set. This brush has the longest sable hairs and the density gives it a solid belly to hold plenty of moisture. and a needle-like tip allowing for detailed swooshes and swirls.

Blocking in colour, the body splays out nicely to provide decent coverage on general infantry and character scale models.

Blending is supported by the belly size, you can hold moisture in the brush and glaze for ages.

The needle-like tip is great for detail work such as script or even blocking in eyes on miniatures heads.

It’s also a solid size for the controlled application of washes (Shades for you Citadel fans).

You’ll be reaching for this versatile brush time and time again.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Series S #1

This brush is from the same series as above but the #1 is a touch smaller. it still has the same needle-like point, but the smaller belly is the primary difference.

The main uses for this are for better control of moisture and edge highlighting.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Series S #1

Some paints (I’m looking at the fan-favourite Vallejo Metal Color range) are so fluid that even the introduction of a brush tip will see the hairs drink paint like it’s going out of fashion. You can easily have more paint on a brush than you need leading to it flooding out on a model’s surface.

The smaller brush here helps to prevent that.

Additionally, when edge highlighting models, many people will use the side of a brush to catch the edges on miniatures. Once again, too much paint/water can cause problems. The smaller brush allows for much better control.

Try it. use a smaller brush next time you edge highlight with the side of a brush and you’ll see how much easier it naturally is.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Series M #0

Also known as the eye-dotting brush.

The Series M is a much shorter brush tip in general. To put it simply, using this is more like painting with a pencil rather than a brush. You won’t be able to hold anywhere near as much water in these, which will see you returning it to your palette and loading up more paint far more frequently. But the point of this (pun intended) is for short sharp sketchy applications.

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Series M #0

Use the brush for freehand work, Edge highlighting when you can’t just run the side of your brush along an edge. Sketching colours and yes, dotting eyes.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Extras

When working this out, we wanted to make sure that this was a complete set to get you started and that’s why the extras are included.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Brush Soap

If you don’t use brush soap, you should, What is the point of spending all this money on brushes and not taking good care of them?

If you’ve been cleaning your brushes in nought but water for all this time, well. Next time you get a chance. rinse off your brush with water as you normally would. Then try the brush soap and you’ll immediately see just how much more paint comes off.

See, so it wasn’t that clean after all.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Dampening pad

The dampening pad is pretty necessary to use these drybrushes properly, so we couldn’t have this set without one. If you’ve not used these before it may surprise you that you should actually wet a dry brush. but really you are just adding a touch of initial moisture to the hairs.

This both protects the hair from absorbing too much paint and helps paint leave the brush smoothly. It’s why using these brushes makes for a soft and subtle drybrush blend rather than the heavily textured effects to get from competitor brushes.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Brushes – Texture Palette

The texture palette (sold separately) completes the set. Available in both XL (A4 XXX x XXX) and XXL (A3 297 x 420 mm) sizes. We’ve added the XL palette to a bundle if you want it all together. “F-Hammer represent Yo”.

The design of this palette, whilst branded, with our logo, also features various degrees of texture for you to test your brush before applying it to the miniature.

The smooth area is perfect as a general palette to pour out your paint and create live colour blends, the texture area can then be used to check how heavy or light your drybrush coat will be.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Price & Availability

The FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter set is available now direct from Artis Opus Web Store

The 5-brush boxed set with Soap and Dampening pad retails for £87.49 (or local equivalent)

You can pick up either of the texture palettes with the XL retailing at £14.99 and the XXL for £24.99

You can buy these as a bundle of the Starter Set box and XL Texture Palette for £99.99

Artis Opus - FauxHammer Startere Set - Complete Boxed Open

Yep, it’s not a throwaway price, but I want to assure everyone, that there’s no FauxHammer tax applied here for having our branding. These are direct and fair AO prices for this kit. You won’t find the same stuff cheaper.

If you want to make an investment in your painting arsenal, there’s currently no better way than to start with this set. As of now, it’s the only way you’ll get the full variety of the Artis Opus range in one set.

IMHO the perfect starter set for miniature painters.

FauxHammer – Artis Opus Starter Set – Final Thoughts

Thanks for taking the time to look at this and for your consideration. I hope you can see our intent behind this set. The TLDR version would be.

Perfect set for beginners featuring the best initial brushes from each of Artis Opu’s ranges. Available in bundles to include our own texture palette.

This set will cover 99.9 % of your painting needs as you grow and develop your skills.

Treat yourself whilst supporting us and pick up a set now (then tell all your friends to do the same) please.