Choosing Copic Colors

Hi everyone! I get asked about which Copic colors I recommend quite often, so I decided to write up a post, to have something to refer people to.  I don't consider myself a Copic expert, or anything, just sharing my take on this topic.

When choosing your own colors, try to think about the type of images you like to color the most and choose colors suitable for those images. I love to color nature images, flowers, trees, animals, etc, so choosing pinks, yellows, lavenders and reds that would work for flowers was important to me. I also needed browns for tree trunks, old wooden structures and furry critters. The greens needed to work for leaves and foliage.

Maybe you like to color those cute little kid images. Then you might want to focus more on skin tones, and brighter colors for clothing in the more saturated lower color families. If you like vintage images, you might want to consider the less saturated colors in the higher color families, for a more faded look on your images.

Have you been to Marianne Walker's blog? She has some great info on her left side bar, along with some links to specific posts, that will really help you understand blending families. I think it is very important to understand the numbering system on the markers and how they are dividing into blending families. The info there was invaluable to me in choosing my colors. You can find information specific to blending families on this post by Marianne. Also, be sure to check out the blog links on her right sidebar to the Copic Certification Instructors. They are the most amazing colorists and have so much to share!

Below is a list of the colors I use most often. If I were starting over, these are ones I would pick first.

Yellows
Y17
Y23
Y21

Pink
RV25
RV23
RV21

Green
YG95
YG93
YG03(these are yellow greens, which I like better than most of the plain greens - the 95 and 93 make a nice olive green for some foliage and then layering the 03 on top of those brightens them up for more intense greens)


Orange
YR07
YR04
YR02

Lavender
V06
V04
V01

Brown
E35
E37
E51
E53
E57

Blue
B26
B23
B21

Red
R22
R24
R27

Grey
N7 (nearly black)
N5
N3
N1



That is a pretty big list and you could probably start with fewer markers. If I were choosing just a few from each color family I would start with the lighter/medium colors first. You can keep layering on color to deepen shading or even use a grey for deeper shades. Then as you build up your collection, add in those darker colors. 

Don't forget to get a colorless blender pen with your first order!