Where to start collecting Copic?

[AmzdByHsGrace]

Hey Y'all.. got several gift cards for Christmas and wanted to use them to start a Copic Marker collection. What colors would be a place to start? Is there certain sets you would suggest for a beginner? Any and all help would be appreciated...
God bless
Nyoka

[GypsyRoseStamper]

Whatever you do, do it immediately. Prices go up January 1.

[Barbara Jay]

When I started with Copics I went the ROYGBIV method
I choose a light , medium and dark in Red, Green, Blue, Pink, Brown, Grey( the C's) and a colorless blender with a refill bottle. I only got a light and dark of Orange, violet and Yellow since I don't often use those colors

That was a total of 25 markers and a refill for the Colorless blender.
These colors served me very well for quite some time before I began adding other colors.

I originally chose the YG's for the greens because I wanted to color foliage. Shortly after I got them I added a light, medium and dark in the Christmas greens.

I never bought sets because they often do not have a light, medium and dark of each color in a set . I bought mine individually.

HTH

[Angelnorth]

I think it depends largely on what sort of images you colour - the ideal starter set for somebody who concentrates on flower images is not going to be the same as the starter set for a fan of Magnolia or Kenny K images, for example.

I started out by buying colours suitable for a specific stamp (mine happened to be a harvest image with a pumpkin, apples, corn cobs etc) and then expanding from there as and when I had money to spend and a different sort of image to colour. I think the pre-selected sets are not ideal for many people as there are always some markers you won't use.

[AmzdByHsGrace]

Thanks Ladies. I have been doing some research and Barbara Jay, your advice is what seems to come up.. buy a dark, medium and light color of whatever color. I can see how that would be essential for blending... Thank you all so much for your input... I appreciate it so much..
Barbara would you be willing to give me the numbers of the ones you chose? And what did you mean by " ( the C's )" ??
Thanks Ladies
God bless
Nyoka

[GypsyRoseStamper]

There are combinations of three shown here: New! 3 Piece Blending Sets | COPICMARKER.COM

Don't be tempted to choose the extreme darkest of a color. They aren't very useful for blending, and you end up having to touch with the blender pen to pick up the least bit of color.

[cheermom]

I did what Barbara Jay did .

[arlenevita]

research Suzanne Dean's blog. She has really great suggestions for the various colors to start with such as colors for flesh, grass, blue jeans, hair color, etc.

[AmzdByHsGrace]

Lots of great advice!! Thanks for your help..
God bless
Nyoka

[Colleen Schaan]

Congrats on starting your Copic collection. Barbara has great advice... you can't go wrong with a light, medium, and dark shade in the same color, same saturation.

I have some beginner info on my blog under the Copic FAQ page along with a list of what I recommend for beginners... and how to then add on to that to grow your collection.

I'll see if I can attach it here...

Have fun coloring!

[AmzdByHsGrace]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colleen Schaan

Congrats on starting your Copic collection. Barbara has great advice... you can't go wrong with a light, medium, and dark shade in the same color, same saturation.

I have some beginner info on my blog under the Copic FAQ page along with a list of what I recommend for beginners... and how to then add on to that to grow your collection.

I'll see if I can attach it here...

Have fun coloring!

Thanks Colleen! I appreciate it!!
God bless
Nyoka

[cakhuxel]

An important thing to keep in mind when buying Copics is to start light, and I mean REALLY LIGHT. Like so light you think, huh, can't hardly see it. You can layer upon layer to get a light shade to darken up, but you can't go the other way. Colorless blenders are used to push the ink around, not erase it. If you color outside the lines, you can "push" the ink back inside your design, to a point. You can visit the Copic web site for some nice pdf charts that will help you keep your colors in order. You are not going to run out of ink too quickly, so put your initial investment into pens not refills, and remember, there are four styles, Wide, Sketch, Copic and Caio, so you might want to experiment at the store before you decide which one you prefer. Don't go by price because since the pens are refillable this is a long-term investment. Copic sells an affordable notebook that I've found to be very helpful for experimenting with my pens before I cut expensive paper for a card. FInally, Flourishes.org has just come out with a wonderful little $6 set of color cards that you might find really helpful. If you are looking for Water, you'll know to grab BG11, BG13 and BG15. Flesh Tones I will require markers E00, E11, E31 and E33. Fuchsia is R29, R39 and R89. I like that the cards jump color sets.

Best of luck with your Copics.
-c
Certified Copic Instructor

[Michellena317]

Here is a link to a post I did using the Copic Blending Set colors so you can see how they look blended together.

[Barbara Jay]

I never had any art training nor did any art work . When I bought the light medium and dark colors suggested I thought I would never use the very dark markers . However, I decided to follow the Copic experts advise and get them. I found I "definitely needed" the dark colors for shadows.

Some colors like BG18 I don't even like, but it is definitely needed for shading BG11-BG13-BG15

The very light colors as -c- explained are needed to build up light colors. The colorless blender "removes or moves " color and using several layers of a very light marker works better for producing lighter colors.

My other caution is after you buy your basic color markers try to see a copy of a hand colored chart. I made a few mistakes as I added colors because some colors are very close to other colors that I have so I really didn't need both. YR00 and YR01 are very similar. G16-G17-are similar and there are a few others

Later when I have time I am going to sort out the few markers that are very similar to others I have and put them on B/S/T

Check out the Copic sticky thread at the top for a lot of great Copic advise.

[eyestitch]

I love this info. Thanks, Ladies.

I am wondering about 3-color "sets" that will match SU paper colors.

Has anyone put that together?

[Barbara Jay]

Here is a fabulous chart for SU colors and matching colors not only for Copics , but also for Prisma's, Tombows and Distress ink colors

SU color chart - retired, current RGB, HEX, Copic, Distress Markers + more by stamphappy1650 at Splitcoaststampers

[Margscardcrazy]

Thank you Michelle for those great charts on your blog.

I use my swatch book to work out the colours, each time I purchased copic markers I filled in the appropriate square in the swatch book.

When I am looking for a colour combination I go to the book and look at what will blend best.

I loooove my copic, for me it's addictive, you are going to have great fun learning to use them and watching your images come to life.

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michellena317

Here is a link to a post I did using the Copic Blending Set colors so you can see how they look blended together.

[cjzim]

Just another note regarding the Gray's; the W's, or warm Gray's which have more brown in them, are good if you like to color animals.

[cakhuxel]

Good reminder to check out the colors before you buy them. After a few expensive mistakes I purchased the little Copic Marker notebook, because yes indeed- some of the colors, even across color sets, are very similar! And for those of you who have smart phones, a great idea is to make a list of your pens in the phone's note taking app. You never know when you'll be somewhere and happen upon an art shop or something and find nicely priced pens, and you won't know what you've already got. I found 3 at a yard sale of all places!

[Deb Za]

There is an app called My Markers--costs a couple bucks, but well worth it. You can store not only a list of all your markers in it of multiple brands, but refills, colored pencils, and more. You can create lists of what you need, so that when you are shopping or ordering, you just need to tap on that to have the list of ones you want to order. Has saved me a lot of headaches, for sure!