Alternatives to Bob Ross Products

Felix

A lot of people want to switch from the Bob Ross brand to other brands of brushes and oil paints.

Since tools and paints from Bob Ross Inc. are designed for the Bob Ross technique some of them are pretty hard to replace in this style of painting.
If you're painting with an other brand or even tried out several of them:

Which of them worked best for you? Could be brushes, paint thinner, oil paints or any other painting related supply

Here are the answers in here summed up: https://blog.twoinchbrush.com/article/the-best-alternatives-to-bob-ross-brand-painting-supplies/

ForestVueGallery

Felix Thank you for posting this. I’ve been very pleased with Gamblin 1980 oils as they are much less oily than Ross. The Gamblin Gamsol odorless thinner works nicely. As for brushes I really like Kevin Hill, but in my experience they don’t hold up as well. The KH liner brush is fantastic. For canvases in the U.S. I like Blick Studio and Premier, and Liquitex professional gesso. I have not tried it, but Alexander Art sells Magic White, Black and Clear and I see they have many of the brushes.

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ForestVueGallery I think AlexanderArt produces the same quality brushes, but they aren’t available in Europe, as well as Kevin Hill products. Liner brush (here I think the BR brand is not the best) you can buy any (there are products of much better quality, e.g Da Vinci), palette knife is also available from other brands. I use odorless paint thinner from Schmincke, it works perfectly but seems to be a bit more expensive than the BR brand. Has anyone ever bought brushes like the BR one inch (my favorite oil brush) from an other brand here in the European Union?

Mgiese84

Tom0779 Of all the BR products I think the brushes are the toughest to find a replacement source. Paint, thinner, canvases, etc. all very easy to find replacements for. But Tom if you could pick the best brand liner brush what would it be? I'd like to get myself a new one sometime.

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Mgiese84 hey Matt, I use a lot of synthetic brushes like liner ones (I am mainly painting in watercolors) and I have tried several products. But I found the best quality is offered by brand Da Vinci. As far as I know it’s a German brand. Not sure if it is available in the USA. But yet I replaced all my synthetic brushes (flat, round etc..) I use for my watercolors with this brand. Also my liner for oils.

TheLandscapePainter

Tom0779 I bought a da vinci on ebay which sort of suggests you could get them worldwide.

rucoetzer

Tom0779 Thanks Tom
Da Vinci has a massive range of brushes. Does anyone know which brush is a good alternative to the Bob Ross brush?

wybnormal

I have yet to find a decent replacement "brush". think 2 inch 😃. Alexander At is harder to find but this may given them a uptick in business. OMS.. I've posted before about this. There is nothing magically about it or any of the brands when you pull the data sheets. For the past year I've been using BBQ lighter fluid which is OMS with a different use label and much cheaper price. Not all are the same tho.. I can post exactly which I'm using. again, I pulled the safety data sheets which details exactly what is in it. I agree with Gamblin 1980 oils. Work really well with Bob's style. Surprisingly, I found the Blick house brand to work pretty well too. I prefer to use Rembrant and Winsor/Newton but I would not recommend either to a new painter. I buy my canvas in bulk at Blick or Michaels. They look to be the exact same canvas and within pennies when on sale. I don't "beat the devil" out of my brush anymore.. as much fun as it is.. I use paper shop towels to dry the brushes. Really cuts down the spray, mist and mess.

Cronenberg89

wybnormal thanks for taking the time to comment. I will be checking out Gamblin 1980 as a new source for paint. BRI will not see another dime from me going forward.

ohjabarn

wybnormal oh, great to know. I have been to Michael's store but I felt like they are more expensive than other stores. I do buy home items, colors, and canvas in bulk at Blick or Michaels. Ken Bromley Oil Paints have a similar consistency to the thicker Bob Ross oil paints. Many people also use Daler Rowney Georgian Oils, or Winsor & Newton Winton. Have you ever heard people at Michael's store chuckling about the price match policy? If you buy a qualifying item on Michaels.com, then find the identical item for less at Michaels.com, as an eligible online retailer, in a Michaels printed or digital ad, you can match that price and then beat it by 10%.

Mgiese84

TheLandscapePainter I actually got a Kevin Hill script liner brush. As first I wasn't 100% sure it would do the trick (it has much longer bristles than the BR script liner brush). However after a few times using it I love it. And actually I can make much finer tree limbs and such with it.

Felix

Thanks for all your input! I've summed it up in an article here: https://blog.twoinchbrush.com/article/the-best-alternatives-to-bob-ross-brand-painting-supplies/

ForestVueGallery

Felix Thanks for the great article on alternatives!

Dr McConnell

I'm in Australia, and I've taken to several brands to get the colours I want: Gamblin 1980 is very nice, also Schmincke College Oils. I also use Art Prism/Art Spectrum, although these are a little thinner, along with Marie's Economical Oils (make sure they are genuine, several places sell rip-offs). For beginning, Mont Marte makes a decent set of oil paints, as well as gesso. For brushes, I got Omega (series 51) and NEEF brushes. Canvas I use a range of brands, but the ones I like best are Born (380gsm), and Mont Marte (280gsm).

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I am searching a real firm titanium white. Vang Gogh is no alternative, it is much too soft. Does anyone know a BRand which offers a real firm white and is available in Europe?
Thank you.

wybnormal

An alternative to "soft" whites is to mix in some impasto additive.. this adds body to the paint so it retains brushstrokes and peaks etc for texture. It would still require a deft hand but its a work around until you can find a sub for the firm paint. Here is a good article on three ways to thicken up the paint
https://www.jacksonsart.com/blog/2018/04/24/3-ways-to-thicken-your-oil-paint-for-impasto-techniques/

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wybnormal Thank you, This is a very useful information here!

wybnormal

here is some marble dust.. I might have to play with this one myself 😃
https://www.naturalpigments.com/marble-dust-fine.html

dracula

I generally mix and match whatever paints I have on hand. In the United States, Jerry's Artarama sells a brand called Lukas 1862 (they also have a student grade Lukas paint). These paints are a little on the thick side and remind me of Bob Ross paints. The only colors that don't map well are Sap Green (I opt for Green Earth in Lukas paints) and Midnight Black, which I just mix myself from whatever's available if I'm out.

https://www.jerrysartarama.com/lukas-1862-oil-colors

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dracula Thanks dracula for the hint with the Lukas 1862 paints. It is a German brand (the "k" should already told me), so I have it available here. I will try that too.

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dracula dracula, thanks a lot, this brand is exactly what I needed! The white has a perfect consistency. @Felix: in case you plan to extend the blog, I think the German brand Lukas 1862 is a perfect replacement for the oil paints.