A well-known photographer once claimed that painters don't spend hours arguing about brushes. He's totally off the mark. Every time I tell my artist friends about that statement, they get the giggles. Painters totally spend hours arguing about brushes, snap, bristle material, shape, size, selection, etc. They talk about how this one brand used to make great brushes, but then they screwed it up and so all of the books from ten years ago that called out that one particular brush are now wrong. And they also talk about paper and paints and the optimum table or easel to use and all sorts of stuff. And they also look with disdain at cheap student-grade materials but at the same time know that that's all some folks can manage. And they know that an artist-grade brush won't rescue a bad painting. So, instead, I think I'm going to say that there's a basic economic principle in being an artist: You want to get the best materials and tools in your hands and spend the least amount of money to do it.