The Rolls Royce of Alcohol Markers - Copic Sketch Review

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Review of: Copic Sketch

Price

Kind of the Apple of alcohol markers

Nibs

Really good brush nib, chisel nib is too small

Ink

Very vibrant and easy to blend and color evenly

Color selection

excellent color selection and color coding system

Summary: Copic Sketch markers are one of the best alcohol based markers out there with the best color selection you can imagine. They are everything you want. And that does come with a price. But when you're using them a lot they can be cheaper in use than other markers as you can refill them.

When I wanted to make a realistic drawing of an acid green car (a Zenvo TS1 GT) I couldn't find the right colors I needed in the Promarker color chart, so I looked further until I found these Copic Sketch markers. And I'm glad I did, because these markers are the best markers I've ever used, but also the most expensive.

My experience with the Copic Sketch markers

The nib holder and cap get dirty easily

You probably do this too, but when I try to put the cap in a marker I sometimes miss or I don't get it perfectly centered (that's why the insides of my hand always have ink stains on them). But when you don't put the cap on perfectly centered the ink will stain the inside of the cap. And when you put the cap on, it has now also stained the nib holder making it a little sticky which I really dislike.

Really nice brush nib, not a fan of the chisel nib

The brush nib of the Copic Sketch is the best brush nibs I've used. It's flexible enough to easily color larger areas, but it's also stiff enough to precisely draw tiny details.

The chisel nib is too small for my liking. Compared to Promarkers and Graph'it markers it's about 2/3 of the size. This makes it less useful and almost unnecessary. When I want to quickly color large areas the brush nib will do a better job than the chisel nib, so I actually haven't used the chisel nib much at all.

Super easy blending and even color

The ink flow of Copic markers is perfectly balanced. Enough ink comes out when you want to color a larger area quickly, but also not too much ink comes out when you want to slowly draw tiny details. Copics are the first markers I've used that have a perfect ink flow balance like this. Other markers often have a too great ink flow or they feel dry when drawing fast.

Due to the perfectly balanced ink flow you get a very even color when drawing and you can easily blend different colors.

The best color selection and color coding system

This is for me the whole reason why I think Copic Sketch markers are worth it.

Copic has an excellent color selection. Every hue has it's own range of values and saturations making it really easy to find matching colors. The color selection also consists of any color you'd like. You want a light skin tone, they have plenty of those. You want a really dark purple, they have it. You want a very light acid yellow, of course they also have that.

No other marker brand has such an inclusive and complete color selection and no other brand has it as organized as Copic has. And solely because of this I would say Copics are worth it.

What other people think of the Copic Sketch markers

They are definitely very nice markers. They are good quality. The fact that you can replace the nibs and the ink is a definite plus. If you don't have the budget for them, though, I would definitely recommend trying Ohuhu markers. [..] These (Copics) are the industry standard markers and I can see why that is. They are very nice markers and the way you can layer them is very nice.

~DrawingWiffWaffles on YouTube

If You are a professional or you spend a lot of your time drawing then I would say yes, they are worth it. But if you're trying markers for the first time definitely don't feel pressured to immediately go for Copics. There are a ton of cheap alternatives that cost a fraction of the price but do almost as much as Copics.

~Vexx on YouTube

Rating

Overall score:

Price:

Nibs:

Ink:

Color selection:

Alternatives

• Ohuhu Honolulu
• Winsor & Newton Promarker Brush
• Graph'it Twin Tip Alcohol Based Marker
• Spectrum Noir Illustrator
  

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Luuk Minkman

Full-Time Artist Specialized in Automotive Art

I'm an artist and I draw realistic cars with alcohol markers and colored pencils. I have been doing so for a decade. I'm sharing everything I know about drawing on this blog. On here, you can find all you need to know to learn how you can draw realistic cars and other subjects yourself. Stay updated by following me on Instagram.