Hello everyone!
Its been a while again but today I am so excited to share with you a new inky tips post all on the legendary “Copic markers” . To all the marker lovers out there you will understand the calling of the copic marker, once you have one you want them all. So here I’m going to give you a sneak peek at what they’re all about to spread the love and you can see if they’re a marker you’d like to try to.
Inky tip one : So Copic markers are a US produced marker, more recently they’ve become more widely available in the UK than they were a few years back so you can now source them much more easily . I got mine from a little etsy shop called ” September Playground” if you’re interested. They come in 3 different marker forms:
Copic Sketch
Copic Ciao
Copic Wide
Copic Original
( Sadly I don’t have the copic original and wide markers here, but google them and you’ll see what I mean! They come with very different nib styles where as the copic sketch and ciao are very much the same.)
Inky tip two : These two types come in two nib styles, one is a chisel tip and the second is a very flexible brush tip ( very much like a watercolour tip). The tips do wear over time, however you’ll be happy to know you can purchase replacement nibs by simply popping them out and putting a new nib in its place.
Inky tip three : These inky pens come in at least 300+ colours that I’m aware of and you’re able to blend them and create a gradient effect when you use them. They also work really well with archival ink pens ( be careful with pencil as the graphite in the pencil can move onto the marker and stain the nib). You might also need to invest in special marker paper ( such as Daler & rowney, letraset or copics own marker paper) because these pens can bleed on certain paper surfaces.
Price : I won’t lie Copics are a pricey art investment as the ciao and sketch markers can cost anything from £3.45 to £5.00+ . The main difference between the copic sketch and ciao aside from the price is , the ciao comes with less ink than the sketch meaning over time with use they will run out faster. However you can purchase copic refills for about £5.00 which let you revive your pens so be sure not to throw them away!
Have you ever tried Copic markers? If so what did you think?
Kate x
Kate Leonard Illustration 
I love my Copics. They’re pricey, but a great investment. I have a mix of originals and sketch. I have a couple ciao blenders. I’m waiting for an order with a couple of the Copic multiliners. Really excited about trying them out.
My first markers were Touch Markers which I received as a gift on Valentine’s Day. I completely fell in love – at least with the markers;) To me Copic and Touch Markers are both great, but somehow I have bought more copics over time. It’s like you said – once you got one you want them all… What I like so much about them is that you don’t have to wait a long time for them to dry (as with watercolours). And because I prefer coloring just some parts of my drawings the financial investment is not too high.
I also tend to use the lighter range and I refill my favourite copics with various ink.
Why hello there breathinganddrawing its lovely to meet you :). I’ve never tried touch markers myself are they good ( and what an amazing valentines gift <3)? Have you tried copic before? I've had mine for years since art college and university, although how I've come to use them over the years have changed an awful lot and I hadn't used them for quite a while. You're absolutely right though once you have one marker you want them all which is good for doodling but not for your bank balance 😦 lol.
I love working with watercolours because of the opacity I can get at the edges, which I'm trying to get using the colourless blender with my copics so we shall see! I try to stick to a small palette of tones I use so I also don't have to invest to much , so I think you're right and wise about the colours you use. What kind of drawings do you do? 🙂 Katie x p.s refills are amazing to!
Hey Katie! I’m the one with the two polar bears (you’ve commented on my drawings earlier). Lovely blog you got there!!
Touch markers to me are quite similar to copic markers. Just until recently you weren’t able to refill them – but that seems to have changed (at least that’s what my local art supplies dealer tells me;)) They are cheaper, but work just as well.
I’ve been using markers for a year and I’ve been drawing for two years now (I started quite late at the age of 33 and I haven’t stopped ever since!).
I love watercolours, too! Very rarely I use pastel chalk or coloured pencils, but never acrylics or oil. But the colourless blender never works for me – I’m still kind of wondering what it’s supposed to do;)
I’m also in love with ink. For black outlining I use rapidographs – they come in various sizes, the smallest is 0,1 and it’s really very thin (I’ve used it on the polar bears). I draw people and animals, sometimes flowers, herbs or plants.
Which are your favourite copic colours?
I guess mine is BG72 – Ice Ocean (again you can see it on the polar bears).
But I mainly use W0 -W2; C0 – C2 and R000 and R00. My favourite touch marker is “Lipstick Red”.
So much for that – I just realised I’m kind of an art nerd;)
I’m so sorry lol I did wonder but when I clicked your blog link it said your blog wasn’t there I was so sad lol :(. So my humble apologies there my creative friend hehe I remember your lovely polars.
Aww I’ll have to try touch markers when I get the chance now hehe :). I use the colourless blender to put down a patch of alcohol then I go on with my light and other tones to create a wash.
Awww a fellow inky lover hehe I love staedtler and pigma liners they’ve got to be my favourite. Aww my favourite copic tones have to be yg61 pale moss, e71 champagne and rv95 baby blossom.
I love love love adding in the warm gray tones with my colour layers to add depth to my colours. Kate x p.s there’s nothing wrong being an art nerd hehe
No problem:) Glad to find someone working in a similar way to me!
I will try this wash thing with the colourless blender – maybe it hasn’t worked so far because I’ve never used the special copic paper but Büttenpapier (what’s that in English??) or normal sketch paper. But I’ve wanted to try the copic paper anyway…
Looking forward to see more of your work here or on Instagram!
Morning and yeah totally try the wash with the colourless blender it’s good for br eaking up harsh edge layers of tone. In truth I’ve never tried copic paper but found layout paper works really well it jist bleeds through the back abit. So if you tried it be sure to put some scrap underneath x Katie p.s same here! Can’t wait to see more piece on your instagram to x