tailed stamped images. Copic markers, in both the Ciao andSketch series, have a brush tip on one end comparable tothat of a watercolor brush marker, and a thin chisel tip onthe other, and this makes all the difference. These markersare available from suppliers on the Internet and from betterart stores, and are sold both in sets and individually. Pricesvary greatly, so look for bargains.

Copic styles, colors and paper

Copic markers have soared in popularity, but it maytake a while to get used to them, particularly if you’ve beena lifelong user of watercolors, colored pencils, chalk or anyof the other popular coloring media associated with rubberstamping. There are reasons why there are 322 colors ofCopic Sketch markers and 144 colors in the Copic Ciao se-ries (one pen in each series is a colorless blender), the mostimportant being that what you see is what you get.

When you lay down a color, you’re pretty much stuckwith it except for a tendency to lose intensity as it dries.Scrubbing away at alcohol ink with a colorless blender willlighten the color somewhat and aids in blending, but if youwant some subtle shading in a mountain, you’ll need thebase color for the mountain plus some of the compatiblemarkers on the color chart.

There’s a formula for the letters and numbers on Copicmarkers, and understanding this formula is helpful when

you’re trying to find markers that work together. Briefly, theletters indicate the hue. B is blue, BV is Blue-Violet, Y isYellow, YG is Yellow-Green, etc. The first number after thecolor designation indicates the grayness of a color, where a“0” or “1” indicates a pure color and a higher number indi-cates a higher level of gray. The additional numbers, like“00,” indicate the value, where lower numbers designatelight colors and higher numbers designate dark colors.

Another reason that there are so many colors is thatyou’ll never be happy with a “basic set” and you’ll wantmore. The Copic Ciao markers are thinner and cheaper thanthe Sketch markers, and the 144 colors in the complete setprovide an excellent range. They’re a great way to get start-ed without taking out a second mortgage, and you can al-ways augment the colors with markers from the Sketchseries.

Both the Ciao markers and the Sketch markers are re-fillable—and other accoutrements, such as replaceable tips,airbrush mechanisms for the Sketch markers, and storageboxes with different capacities are available.

Are they worth it? Definitely. You do, however, needspecial paper for these markers, and finding the paper orcardstock that works for you is a matter of experimentation.I’m presently using Aquabee’s 110# Manga Artist paper,which has a smooth finish that allows the ink to blend easily.It’s reasonably priced and responds well to fixative. Sincequality art supplies are difficult to find in Tucson, I buy 50-

Markers of Distinction “Copic markers have a brush tip on one end and a thin chisel tip on the other, and this makes all the difference.”

When I moved to Arizona fromConnecticut, I found the size of thisstate intimidating. A life-long case ofdirection impairment plus Arizona’s 75mph highway speed limit kept meclose to Tucson for a while until I dis-covered there was a stamp conventionbeing held near Phoenix.

When I opened a map of thesprawling Phoenix area, however, I de-cided to find alternate transportation.Since my husband didn’t appear to bereceptive to a day of togetherness at arubber stamp convention that requiredfive hours of driving, I signed up for achartered bus for Tucson stampers.

After a wonderful convention weheaded back to Tucson, the bus floorlittered with lumpy plastic bags andthe seats full of tired women ready tonod off. However, in an attempt tokeep the day’s enthusiasm going, theorganizer of the trip began giving animpromptu stamping class, beginningwith a long list of necessary supplies.

The woman sitting next to mesighed and shook her head, and whenthe final item on the list was men-tioned, a pencil, she poked me andwhispered, “Well, at least I have that!”

Starter set

Looking out the bus window onthe ride home, I wondered what itwould be like to be an addicted stam-per living on a fixed income, unable tobuy every new have-to-have item onthe market. But as I get closer to re-tirement myself and have settled into acomfortable stamping style, I find itmakes sense to bypass the latest fadsand make an occasional investment insomething lasting that fosters enthusi-asm and improves the quality of myartwork.

So at the last convention I attend-ed (I can find my own way now), Ipicked up a “starter set” of 36 CopicCiao markers. I should have knownbetter. Starter sets always seem to

need to get finished.

If you’ve been in an art store orcrafts emporium lately, you’ve proba-bly seen the word “Manga.” A literaltranslation means “whimsical pic-tures,” referring to a Japanese form ofcartoon art. There are special pads ofpaper and colored pens devoted specif-ically to creating the Manga style, buteven if you’re not into cartooning,

these art supplies provide somethingspecial for stampers. Copic alcoholmarkers, a brand commonly associatedwith Manga art, are perfect for color-ing stamped artwork.

Alcohol markers are nothing new.Chartpak, Tria and Prismacolor mark-ers are familiar brands many of ushave tried, however those fat chiseltips are difficult to use for coloring de-

Copic markers: an Investment in Your artwork • By Diana Sample

ColorIng wIth CoPIC markerS—SteP-BY-SteP

SomerSet Cottage(Stamp credit—PSX. artwork by Diana Sample.)

Begin with: Spring Dim Green,

Sand White, Barely Beige, Cool

Gray 3

Add: Green Gray, Lipstick

Natural, Cool Gray 5, SandAdd: Pale Olive, Bush, Pea

Green, Verdigris, Flesh Pink,

Cream

sheet packs online.

Some practical suggestions

There are instructions and demonstrations for usingjust about everything on the Internet, including videos thatprovide lessons from both professionals and amateurartists for using Copic markers. Some are very worthwhileand some are downright annoying or badly filmed.

There is also a 20-minute instructional DVD availablecalled Techniques and Projects with Sketch Markers. It’sprofessionally done, inexpensive, and while it is designedfor beginners and covers more “projects” than techniques,it offers some valuable information on how to get evencolor and add shading.

Tips and suggestions

The following are my own suggestions for gearing upto use Copic markers.

• Invest in decent storage. There are inexpensiveplastic storage cases made for each style of Copic marker(since the barrels are shaped differently). Alcohol ink driesfast, so you will constantly be pulling off and replacingcaps (the caps of the Ciao markers are easier to remove),and storing the markers in an easy-to-access case with thebrush tip facing up really speeds things along.

Avoid the Easter Bunny baskets for storage (remem-ber when a fishing tackle box used to hold all your rubberstamps?). As your collection grows (and it will), regimen-tal organization by color makes a large selection of mark-ers easier to use.

• Include a Colorless Blender. Make sure to include

Copic’s colorless blender in your marker collection. Un-like the blender pens for watercolor markers, the Copicblender actually works well and it can be useful for pick-ing up color from a pen tip as well as blending directly onpaper. You’ll use the blender a lot, so invest in a bottle ofthe refill ink

• Save money by analyzing how you stamp and

what colors you really need. The darker shades of Copicmarkers are very strong. If your stamping includes a lot oflandscapes, for example, skip the dark, saturated colorslike deep blue or red violet and spend your money onearth tones, greens and yellow greens.

• Leave white space and add highlights. A goodthing to remember when using Copic markers is the oldadage your fourth grade teacher told you about using com-mas: when in doubt, leave it out. Start with light colorsand leave light areas for highlights. The colorless blenderallows you to lighten and remove a little color, but it’s al-ways easier to add color than to remove it.

An option for highlighting small areas is opaquewhite paint, such as Copic White or Dr. Ph. Martin’sBleed Proof White. The Uni-Ball Signo UM-153 white gelpen is also wonderful and mess-free for small highlights.However, alcohol ink is bright and translucent and you’rebetter off practicing some self-control from the beginningwith large areas.

• Hold your artwork up to a light. As you work, pe-riodically hold the paper up to a strong light. The lighter,highlighted areas will almost glow and you can also see

“the colorless blender allows you to lightenand remove a little color, but it’s always easier

to add color than to remove it.”

where you’ve missed spots or need to add shading. You’ll run into a lot of advice about turning your paper over to make sure

everything is saturated with color. I prefer the “light test,” as I often don’t want

an area saturated with color and the reverse side of any paper colored withCopic markers is pretty depressing.

• Use fixative. Spray your artwork with fixative, such as Krylon CrystalClear, when you’re done. Artwork colored with alcohol markers tends to lookrather subdued and flat, but spraying it with fixative brightens and evens out thecolors. Of course this depends somewhat on the kind of paper or cardstockyou’re using (the reaction of the Aquabee Manga paper to fixative is a sharpen-ing of detail and color enhancement). One advantage of using Copic markersover watercolor markers is that even after spraying your artwork with fixative,it can still be touched up.

• Obtain or create a color chart. You can download a color chart in .pdfformat for the Copic markers from the Copic website, see Resources) or pick upa Copic brochure in an art store. Better yet, make your own chart using thepaper you’ll be working with most often. This provides truer colors and you canuse your color swatches to match your artwork to background paper.

• Think big. If you do landscapes or scenic stamping and you often have alarge expanse of sky to color, invest in a couple Copic Wide markers in blue.Pale Blue (B-32) and Manganese Blue (B-34) are good choices. They cover thepaper in a wide swath that saves ink and a lot of fiddling. Once you’ve addedyour basic blue colors and the marker lines have merged, work at the solid colorwith the colorless blender to give a suggestion of clouds.

• Color in small circles. This blends the edges of your color and preventsstreaking. This is another technique that is pretty standard when you find infor-mation on using Copic markers, but use your own judgment. There are timeswhen doing this is impossible, and other times when it’s necessary.

• Take frequent breaks. Walk away from your artwork frequently. Let thedog out or have a couple brownies. After 10 minutes, the colors settle, the edge marks disappear, and you have a better idea of where you need to con-tinue.

Diana Sample lives in Tucson, Arizona. She is a freelance writer and fre-

quent contributor to the pages of RSM.This article first appeared in the Fall

2009 issue, #165.

Resources

Carpe Diem Store carries an extensive line of markers and other art prod-ucts. Ships via FedEx, which can be expensive. For more visit carpediem-store.com, e-mail cs@carpediemstore.com, write 3820 Valley Blvd. Unit 1,Walnut, CA 91789, call (909) 598-7230.

Copicmarkers.com is an online store carrying Copic markers, accessories,paper and more. For more visit copicmarkers.com, write Copicmarkers.com,Period Style, PO Box 263, North Chili, NY 14514. No phone.

The Merri Artist is an art supply store with an excellent website and excel-lent service. Free shipping on orders of $90 and more within continental US.For more visit merriartist.com, e-mail info@merriartist.com, write 321 NEBaker St., McMinnville, OR 97128, call (866) 472-1684.

Oozak carries a wide assortment of Copic markers at discount prices, aswell as other art supplies and products. Free shipping on orders of $50 ormore within the continental US. For more visit oozak.com, write 225 Par-sons St. Ste C-9, Kalamazoo, MI 49007, call (800) 507-0718.

Add: Light Suntan, Mustard, Pale

Blue, Willow, Ice Ocean, Abyss

Green, Orientale, Reddish Brass,

Pale Lavender, Warm Gray 5,

Jade Green, Colorless Blender

Add: Dark Suntan, Pale Sepia,

Cream, Caramel, Powder Pink,

Pale Blue, Frost Blue, Dr. Ph

Martin’s Bleed Proof White Ink

Add: Brown, Flesh