My 10 most used Copic markers

As a fashion illustrator I’ve been asked many times what are the colors I would recommend buying to  start a Copic collection. That’s a tricky question since colors are such a personal matter. Your color palette defines you as an artist.

I decided to write a post about 10 of my most used Copic markers ones in hopes that it will be a helpful guide. Just a side note, I use the Copic Sketch markers. I haven’t tried the Ciao or the Wide ones yet.

Even though 70% of my work is done in watercolors, I do love me some Copics for specific projects.

I listed below my 10 most-used Copics in no specific order (it was tough sticking to only ten!) that I reach out for all the time along with a brief description of what I use them for.

1.- E00 Skin white 2.- E11 Barley Beige 3.- E13 Light Suntan (I use all of the above to render skin tones. I combine and layer them to get darker skin tones).

4.- R20 Blush: my illustrations’ signature lipstick. 🙂

5.- RV21: such a lovely shade of pink (if you hadn’t noticed, pink is my favorite color)

6.- R43 Bougainvillaea: an awesome coral that I like to use for pops of color.

7.- V12 Pale lilac: Lilac is my second favorite color. So biased!

8.- T1 Toner gray No1: great color for shading.

9.- T8 Toner gray No. 8: I use it a lot to render black fabrics.

10.- E79 Cashew. Love this brown. I use it for a lot of different things.

You can find Copics and their refills at most art supply stores (at least here in the US). I usually buy them online though. Here and here are links to some of them.

This is a 6 skin tone set (the first Copics I ever purchased.)

These are the refill inks I buy.

Hope this post was helpful. Feel free to leave me a comment about what you’d like to read next in this space. ♥

xo,