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PreprintCC BY 4.0HAL

The hidden side of paintbrushes: a geometry shaped by power laws

  • Raphaelle Taub
  • Jérôme Crassous
  • Thomas Salez
  • Frédéric Restagno
  • Christophe Poulard
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Abstract

Since prehistoric times, painters have used brush-like tools made from animal and plant materials to apply pigments to rock surfaces. Over time, techniques for creating brushes evolved, and converged towards optimized shapes. Our study performed over hundreds of brushes reveals universal scaling laws. In particular, we uncover a relation between bristle length and diameter linked to the shape of the bristle ends, which governs their mechanical response with and without paint. For round brushes, we found that the size of the paint stain scales with the compression distance, meaning it only depends on the force applied by the painter and not on the mechanical responses of the brushes. These results shed light on the underlying universal physical principles governing brush design and their impact on artistic techniques.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@misc{taub2026hidden,
  title = {{The hidden side of paintbrushes: a geometry shaped by power laws}},
  author = {Raphaelle Taub and Jérôme Crassous and Thomas Salez and Frédéric Restagno and Christophe Poulard},
  howpublished = {HAL},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.39410},
  eprint = {2609.39410},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05770110v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - UNPB
TI  - The hidden side of paintbrushes: a geometry shaped by power laws
AU  - Raphaelle Taub
AU  - Jérôme Crassous
AU  - Thomas Salez
AU  - Frédéric Restagno
AU  - Christophe Poulard
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
PB  - HAL
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.39410
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05770110v1
AB  - Since prehistoric times, painters have used brush-like tools made from animal and plant materials to apply pigments to rock surfaces. Over time, techniques for creating brushes evolved, and converged towards optimized shapes. Our study performed over hundreds of brushes reveals universal scaling laws. In particular, we uncover a relation between bristle length and diameter linked to the shape of the bristle ends, which governs their mechanical response with and without paint. For round brushes, we found that the size of the paint stain scales with the compression distance, meaning it only depends on the force applied by the painter and not on the mechanical responses of the brushes. These results shed light on the underlying universal physical principles governing brush design and their impact on artistic techniques.
ER  -