Taking care of your brushes
Good brushes are expensive. Thus you must take care of them, but how ? What to do and what not to do ? Let's start with a bit of anatomy.
1. Don't let paint go near the ferrule
In the picture you can see that the ferrule is the metallic part of your brush, it keeps the bristles in place. Therefore you should never allow the paint to go near the ferrule, if you allow it, and you let it dry, it will damage your brush and its tip won't be as good as before. You must also know that removing dried paint near the ferrule is really difficult, you'll need some chemical solvents.
2. Rince often your brushes
Everyone sure knows that you need a cup of water at disposal, but don't use it only when you're changing colors, use it to clean your brush when you feel that the paint on it is drying. It will also help if a little bit of paint got near the ferrule by mistake.
3. Pick the right brush
It might sound obvious, but I believe a reminder may be quite useful. Indeed, if you use a brush too small for something that requires a lot of paint, you'll have a tendancy to put too much paint on your brush at once, and thus there is a high chance that the paint will go near the ferrule.
4. Don't ever let your brushes rest in your cup of water
If you let your brush resting in your cup of water, the bristles will start to bend, which is bad because it will keep that bad position and you will have troubles using your brush efficiently.
5. Clean your brushes with an artist soap (or a regular one)
There are soaps concieved especially to clean brushes (search for "Master brushes" on the internet, or go at your local art store), they are very effective for removing acrylics, but using a normal one works too. When you're done painting, take all your brushes and clean them by simply rubbing them on your soap with a little bit of water.
Use your finger to help the soap remove the paint, rince it, and then wipe it with some paper towels.
Of course there is a lot more to talk about but those are the ones I think are the most important. Don't be a savage with your brush by hitting the bottom of your cup of water, follow the instructions above and your brushes will last long !
Thanks for reading and don't forget the most important thing: have fun and enjoy.