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Sooo...How many Copics did you have before you felt like you had enough? I ask because I have about 120 and I still find that I never seem to have the colors I want! For example, I wanted to do a soft, warm back light, and used Y0000 and Y000 but they were too fluorescent-looking. I also have Y06, Y11, Y15, Y21, and Y38, but none of them are right, either! Anyone else have this problem?
Sooo...How many Copics did you have before you felt like you had enough? I ask because I have about 120 and I still find that I never seem to have the colors I want! For example, I wanted to do a soft, warm back light, and used Y0000 and Y000 but they were too fluorescent-looking. I also have Y06, Y11, Y15, Y21, and Y38, but none of them are right, either! Anyone else have this problem?
For me I can never have enough, which is why I'm a little piggy and have them all! except for the fluorescent colors.
Since you mentioned none of the yellow ones you had were working for you, have you tried any in the YR grouping? I tried YR30 which is very pale, and if you want to add another color to it or want it darker in areas, you can use that color to pick up either YR31 or Y32 and bring a soft glow yet, just a hint deeper. I picked up the color after scribbling on some plastic, however, you could use the marker to marker technique as well.
Sooo...How many Copics did you have before you felt like you had enough? I ask because I have about 120 and I still find that I never seem to have the colors I want! For example, I wanted to do a soft, warm back light, and used Y0000 and Y000 but they were too fluorescent-looking. I also have Y06, Y11, Y15, Y21, and Y38, but none of them are right, either! Anyone else have this problem?
I will never have enough either. ;)
However, after i bought around 60 + basic color markers then I started buying them as I needed them. I have not counted mine but I am sure I have well over 100. I just added two colors for a burgundy outfit I was coloring and 3 more Christmas greens .
__________________ "I have not failed . I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" --Thomas A. Edison
The little buggers are so addicting, aren't they? I have always loved to color, ever since I was little..... Like you, Barbara Jay, I started off with just a few, in fact just Ciao's, thinking they would be plenty - obviously they weren't, and over the years as I needed more colors, I bought the Sketch to fill in and with good sales well my collection grew somehow!!!
Sooo...How many Copics did you have before you felt like you had enough? I ask because I have about 120 and I still find that I never seem to have the colors I want! For example, I wanted to do a soft, warm back light, and used Y0000 and Y000 but they were too fluorescent-looking. I also have Y06, Y11, Y15, Y21, and Y38, but none of them are right, either! Anyone else have this problem?
No, I can't say that I have that problem because I have all of the Sketch markers!!!!!!! I know you can also make your own colors, but I haven't tried that yet. I need to order a few empty markers so I can try that out.
__________________
“Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else.” – Fred Rogers
Sooo...How many Copics did you have before you felt like you had enough? I ask because I have about 120 and I still find that I never seem to have the colors I want! For example, I wanted to do a soft, warm back light, and used Y0000 and Y000 but they were too fluorescent-looking. I also have Y06, Y11, Y15, Y21, and Y38, but none of them are right, either! Anyone else have this problem?
That is how I've ended up collecting almost all of the colors over the years, but I've created a few custom colors for myself, as well.
For that back glow you are trying to achieve, I love a pale YR. For me the YR30 is too pale and the YR31 is too much. I purchased an empty sketch marker and created my own with 1/2 YR31 and 1/2 blender solution. It's a beautiful, pale but still rich version, of the YR31 that I love. BG72 and Blender is another custom combo that I just adore and use regularly.
You can either mix you *new* color right in the empty marker barrel, or you can mix in an empty ink refill bottle before you put it in the marker, that way you'll have a matching refill when you need it. No right or wrong, just takes a little effort to color match down the road if you mix it in the barrel.
That is how I've ended up collecting almost all of the colors over the years, but I've created a few custom colors for myself, as well.
For that back glow you are trying to achieve, I love a pale YR. For me the YR30 is too pale and the YR31 is too much. I purchased an empty sketch marker and created my own with 1/2 YR31 and 1/2 blender solution. It's a beautiful, pale but still rich version, of the YR31 that I love. BG72 and Blender is another custom combo that I just adore and use regularly.
You can either mix you *new* color right in the empty marker barrel, or you can mix in an empty ink refill bottle before you put it in the marker, that way you'll have a matching refill when you need it. No right or wrong, just takes a little effort to color match down the road if you mix it in the barrel.
I knew a "real Copic pro" would chime in with a solution!!! I rarely use yellow in my backgrounds, but this sounds like a great solution that I may just need to try myself!
For me I can never have enough, which is why I'm a little piggy and have them all! except for the fluorescent colors.
Since you mentioned none of the yellow ones you had were working for you, have you tried any in the YR grouping? I tried YR30 which is very pale, and if you want to add another color to it or want it darker in areas, you can use that color to pick up either YR31 or Y32 and bring a soft glow yet, just a hint deeper. I picked up the color after scribbling on some plastic, however, you could use the marker to marker technique as well.
Good luck, hope this color combo works for you.
Thank you! I have YR30 on my wishlist so it will definitely be going on my next order.
And thanks, Lori, for your advice, too. I think I'll give your suggestion a try. I've been meaning to do the same thing with R81, a color I wish would come in R80!
I'm glad to know I'm not alone in "needing" all the colors! They're like potato chips; I can't stop until I've eaten the whole bag. :rolleyes:
I made the mistake of purchasing a 36 copic marker set. It is lovely, but I did not at the time understand the concept of the 3 or 4 colors... that work together. Now I have to go through them, pick up many many copics to create those families.
Is Dick Blick still the go to place for the individual markers? least expensive?
What is the best storage/carrying case you have found? And where?
Is the copic paper still the best? Are there any good alternatives?
Dick Blick and Oozark seem to have the best prices.
I have been looking for a storage method for my Copics by Goggling and Pinterest.
I took a Copic workshop from Irina Blount from La La Land Stamps. Her company sells marker holders. I think I will purchase those because of their compact size and the way the markers have their own slots so you can see the colors you have depending on how you organize them. I want to be able to organize my markers by color family because this will help me know what colors I need to buy to blend better. These holders seem to be portable via a cart. (I have just under 200 markers collected over 4-5 yrs.)
Last edited by Crafter 4 Life; 11-12-2013 at 07:14 PM..
Reason: Add'l info
I use the black rectangular Copic case with the baskets inside and the zip top. I have all the colors, they can easily be grouped by color family, and it makes it portable to take to classes. I can also fit my case with the Spica pens in it and my color charts, etc. lay nicely in the top. It works perfect for me, maybe something you might want to look at. I also store my supplies elsewhere and bring them in the house to craft, so this is ideal for me.
I know I went through a couple of methods before I settled on this one, including the one with the lighting grate that you individually put the markers in - a challenge to move them when new colors were added! Good luck finding what works for you - that's what really matters.
Is the copic paper still the best? Are there any good alternatives?
Several paper recommendations - Copic Xpress It is my favorite. It's smooth and tight so it prevents feathering of ink outside of stamped lines. I think it also requires less ink to blend.
Neenah Classic Crest Solar White is a really nice paper. It blends beautifully. It's a bit softer than the XPress It, so you'll probably use a little bit more ink with it, and it tends to feather faster. If your heavy handed, you'll notice a little less control when it comes to staying in the lines. Could be tricky with darker colors.
Copic Stamping Paper - This is a nice thinner paper that is sold in 1/4 sheet packs at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. It's very smooth, and probably thinner than anything you've colored on, so it doesn't take very much ink to saturate the paper.
One thing I'd comment on only because I hear it considered from time to time ...The idea that you'll use a cheaper card stock to 'practice' on isn't a very reliable method to improving your coloring skills. There are three variables to coloring. They are 1) you (the artist and your style), 2) the marker and 3) the paper. Every time you change one of those variables, the results change. ;)
The thing about paper is that you can ask 5 people, and there will be 5 different opinions. I would recommend that you try a few and pick the one you like the best, the one that seems best for you and your coloring methods and then stick with it. Practice and hone your mad skills.
One thing I'd comment on only because I hear it considered from time to time ...The idea that you'll use a cheaper card stock to 'practice' on isn't a very reliable method to improving your coloring skills. There are three variables to coloring. They are 1) you (the artist and your style), 2) the marker and 3) the paper. Every time you change one of those variables, the results change. ;)
I agree!
A Novice at anything needs the best equipment especially for practice.
An Expert has the skill to work around the flaws of inferior equipment . You will never improve if you are constantly trying to overcome the problems caused by inferior paper
__________________ "I have not failed . I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" --Thomas A. Edison
What are some of your favorite trio's that are your go to...for pinks, purples, blues, etc...that seem to blend the best for you?
Wow, that's a tall order. When I started I "borrowed" trios from Flourishes, JustRite, etc. who had their ready made sets. I still use some of those or tweak a color or two, depending on my paper or desired effect, but they're a great place to start. There are lots of blogs with ideas, and I recently ran across this Pinterest page with some of those color combo pages linked on her page, so hopefully this will be a good source for you....... Good luck
I may have asked for more than one can answer.. but I understand you look at the color chart and pick every other color? IDK...
I just dont want to led astray by an instructor at a very expensive shop...
I am finding the copic experience confusing and when you go to a class, of course they tell you you don't have the right colors, you need to buy this or that.
I may have asked for more than one can answer.. but I understand you look at the color chart and pick every other color? IDK...
I just don't want to led astray by an instructor at a very expensive shop...
I am finding the copic experience confusing and when you go to a class, of course they tell you you don't have the right colors, you need to buy this or that.
When I started out I used the ROYGBIV system and bought 3 colors in each , except I only bought 2 oranges and did not buy the Indigos . Plus I bought 3 pinks , 3 browns and 3C's for gray and a colorless blender . This set of 27 markers served me well for quite a long time and then I started buying more colors to fill in .
In some cases you do not need 3 colors to blend You can go over a color several times to deepen the color. Each time you go over a color it will deepen by a half shade .
Or you can use tip to tip to get a middle color. You use brush end of the darker marker and stroke it on the brush end of the lighter marker to get a middle color . Count how many times you stroke it so you can reproduce the same color for a larger area
Here are the a few of the blending colors I like. Red: R24-R27-R29 and R20 for cheeks if you color images with faces Pink: R81-R83-R85 .
For Greens I chose leaf green for foliage but soon I had to add Christmas green so here are both. Leaf Green : YG01-YG03-YG05 Christmas green: G14-G16-G19 Yellow Y00-Y04 ( and blended tip to tip for the middle color ) Orange : YR16-YR18 (and blended tip to tip for the middle color) Blue: B02-B04-B16 Blue Green: BG11-BG15-BG49 Browns : For faces E51 or E52 Regular browns : E23-E25-E27-E29 Grey: C0-C2-C4-C6 Black add C7-C9
For Blacks you use the darker C's because true black would turn the image into a silhouette
Originally I did not choose any of the Violet colors as I did not like them .
And of course a colorless marker with a refill.
A colorless marker " removes" ink from edges that you went out of the lines or just to lighten a color a tad. Use sparely to lighten a color as it gets lighter a while after it is applied
As I said, since I started using Copics I have added a lot of marker colors as I needed them to my collection . I started using them 4-5 years ago
I hope this helps
Barbara
__________________ "I have not failed . I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work" --Thomas A. Edison
Last edited by Barbara Jay; 11-21-2013 at 06:11 PM..
I may have asked for more than one can answer.. but I understand you look at the color chart and pick every other color? IDK...
I just dont want to led astray by an instructor at a very expensive shop...
I am finding the copic experience confusing and when you go to a class, of course they tell you you don't have the right colors, you need to buy this or that.
I apologize for sort of "dodging" your question by referring you to a good resource page with lots of possibilities. My reason for doing that was, to me, color choices are so personal depending on what you have a tendency to color, i.e. people, animals, flowers, etc. This way, you could look at what was put in some groupings, and depending on what you like to stamp and color, landscapes for instance, you could choose, groups that would work for you. For as many different stamps that I've bought over the years, I gravitate towards florals. So, unlike Barbara, who gave you some great choices, I would have included violets since they work great for my flowers!
That's why I now have all the colors, because what I started with years ago just weren't enough for what I wanted to color, and I needed to fill in the blanks. I've probably overbought, but I don't have to worry now............
I may have asked for more than one can answer.. but I understand you look at the color chart and pick every other color? IDK...
I just dont want to led astray by an instructor at a very expensive shop...
I am finding the copic experience confusing and when you go to a class, of course they tell you you don't have the right colors, you need to buy this or that.
Barbara Jay has given you some excellent pairing advice. I especially love her ROYGBIV method and then filling in over time. That is kind of how I started, as well.
Understanding the Copic color numbering system will help you make wise choices when adding to your collection. In very simple terms, when you want to create a natural blending group (colors within the same color family that also have the same saturation or grayscale to them) to markers you already have:
1) keep the letter the same
2) keep the first number the same (this number tells you how much gray is in the particular shade or in art terms, saturation)
3) purchase a blending partner that is either below (usually my 1st recommendation) or just above that number to change how light or dark that particular color is (brightness).
So, in Barbara's list, say you have R24 in your stash there at home and you want to pick partners to it, I would add either R22 or R20 to my collection and R27 or R29. This color family will blend very nicely together - all from the true Red family and all with a "2" for gray scale (or saturation in artistic terms).
When you are learning and just starting out, you can get by with a pair rather than a trio because as she said, you can always go over an area again to get a richer look of the same color. Each pass of your marker adds another layer of dye to your paper. If you are only picking one partner, I almost ALWAYS recommend buying to the lower number side - so lighter. The number one mistake new colorers make is they purchase big, bold colors because they were attracted to the vibrancy (ending number 5-9) and then they do not have anything lighter to blend with it and make that color they loved pop.
Using the Copic Color Wheel can be a help picking blending partners, too. You can see the color wheel here. Find the color you like or already have on the color wheel, keeping your eye on the same ring as your chosen color, slide just to the right or the left to pick natural blending partners for that particular marker.
Post a few of your favorite colors here, and maybe we can give you a few suggestions on what we would pair with it to give you some nice combinations.
One more thing I would add is I avoided buying markers in " sets" as either blending sets of just sets of a variety of colors.
My reasons was/is that colors are so personal and the blending set may appeal to the business owner who chose them, but there may be other combos that appeal to me or you . Plus there may be several marker colors that I would rarely use because they are not my favorite colors or due to the type of images I like to color.
The Multiple color sets DO NOT include 3 blending colors for each main color.
After I started coloring a lot of images with hair I vastly expanded my selections of browns
.
There are a lot of good Blogs where the artist states the Copic colors used in a piece . This helps you decided which color combos you like .
I don't want to leave anyone out , but two that I like are
Thank you all so much. I did make the initial error of getting a 36 marker anniversary set. There are only 1 or 2 marker sets that actually are for blending together.
All of the others require further purchases. Then, at class she focuses on certain combos, not sure are my favs. I plan to look at your combos and compare to what I like... I so appreciate. I wish I had asked this question before buying a set...!
Thank you all so much. I did make the initial error of getting a 36 marker anniversary set. There are only 1 or 2 marker sets that actually are for blending together.
All of the others require further purchases. Then, at class she focuses on certain combos, not sure are my favs. I plan to look at your combos and compare to what I like... I so appreciate. I wish I had asked this question before buying a set...!
I actually *love* the anniversary set because of the fine tip nib on one end and sketch brush on the other. I use the fine nibs often for texture and hair! I'll look at the set tomorrow and suggestion some good pairings with colors in it so you can build on it.
I actually *love* the anniversary set because of the fine tip nib on one end and sketch brush on the other. I use the fine nibs often for texture and hair! I'll look at the set tomorrow and suggestion some good pairings with colors in it so you can build on it.
No rush, let me know what pairings you think would be best....
No rush, let me know what pairings you think would be best....
Yes, I do need a gentle nudge from time-to-time...
I've put some nice blending groups below. The colors in bold are colors you would add , the colors in regular font are already in your 36-piece anniversary set.
R81 R85 R89 RV52 RV55 - one of my favorite pinks B21 B24 B28 - Those lighter 21 & 24 are gorgeous blues ;)
Y32 Y35 Y38 - One of my personal must have combos
B91 B93 B95 - nice for denim blue
YR12 YR15 YR18 - nice pumpkin-ish blend
E42 E44 E47 G40 G43 G48
And, for skin, I'd add E00 or E51 to your mix with the E000 and E50.
Thank you so much Lori! I appreciate this so much. I think given what you have added I would have some great trios to start with!
And this only means purchased 10 more markers!!
Carole, I had trouble too, I emailed the company to find out if it has been taken off the site or just being updated?
I emailed them too! I also sent an email to 7 Kids College Fund who had the hand colored chart available for sale. It doesn't come up when you click for purchase.
I emailed them too! I also sent an email to 7 Kids College Fund who had the hand colored chart available for sale. It doesn't come up when you click for purchase.
I emailed 7 Kids several weeks ago about the hand colored chart and never got a response. Hope you get one!
I'm hoping all of you Copic experts can help me. My daughter (almost 14) is looking for combinations of Copics that would be good to color hair. I'm assuming that she would want to color black, brown, blonde, and red hair. Am I missing any? Which 3-color combinations should I get? Thanks so much!
I'm hoping all of you Copic experts can help me. My daughter (almost 14) is looking for combinations of Copics that would be good to color hair. I'm assuming that she would want to color black, brown, blonde, and red hair. Am I missing any? Which 3-color combinations should I get? Thanks so much!
You can search Google Images with a term such as coloring hair copics, or copic hair color combos. The advantage of using an image search engine is that you can pick from the various artists and choose a style close to what your daughter has in mind. There are so many gorgeous examples.
I'm hoping all of you Copic experts can help me. My daughter (almost 14) is looking for combinations of Copics that would be good to color hair. I'm assuming that she would want to color black, brown, blonde, and red hair. Am I missing any? Which 3-color combinations should I get? Thanks so much!
When I first started coloring with Copics, I learned so much from two ladies: Suzanne Dean at scrapbitz.blogspot.com, and Marianne Walker at ilikemarkers.blogspot.com. These ladies are so talented, have a little different approach, yet are great artists.
I'm not on Pinterest, yet scour it for Copic ideas and techniques. Here's a great one (one of many) for skin and hair combos. Hope it helps..... Cracking the Copic Conundrum
Last edited by lovetostamp3; 12-03-2013 at 01:57 PM..
Reason: correct website
When I first started coloring with Copics, I learned so much from two ladies: Suzanne Dean at scrapbitz.blogspot.com, and Marianne Walker at ilikemarkers.blogspot.com. These ladies are so talented, have a little different approach, yet are great artists.
I'm not on Pinterest, yet scour it for Copic ideas and techniques. Here's a great one (one of many) for skin and hair combos. Hope it helps..... Cracking the Copic Conundrum
Thanks! I found a lot on the Pinterest boards. I never think to look there.
Glad it helped!! There are some ladies who have put together some awesome information. My Bookmarks are loaded with references!!! I think I searched for an abundance on Copic titles, and now have come across them by "accident". Thanks to all of you who have done all the hard work!! Here are a few others I use to help get you started....... good luck!!!
