 Here's what to look for in a long needle brush. The one on the right is my favorite DaVinci Kalinsky. The other three are synthetics, but look at what happens when they get wet and the shape of the taper changes drastically on the synthetics. They're blobs and then a point. And what that means is when you're going to make a long stroke, you end up with a point and then it dives directly into that fat body. They all will make calligraphy. So if you want to make really thin lines like that, they all work fine. But if you want to make long leaves or long grasses or something with this brush, you have to practice a lot so that you don't end up with that big blob. As soon as they get to the sable, that taper happens much more naturally and it's a lot easier to work with.