Friday 6 March 2009

COPIC LOVERS, CAN YOU HELP PLEASE?

Morning lovely peeps!

I was wondering if I could pick your brains please about Copics? I'm saving my pennies very hard so that I can invest in some of these soon. I do love my ProMarkers but I'm sure they don't blend as well as Copics and it also annoys me a bit that the nib isn't fine enough to colour in detailed images without going out of the lines. What I'm in a quandry about is whether to go for Copic Ciao or Sketch...... I'm really not sure what the difference is, other than price obviously. I do notice that most peeps seem to use the Sketch markers so I'm guessing they must be better. Also, where do I start? Which would be the best set to start with, most useful colours, etc? Finally (sorry) are there any good places to buy them from in terms of price and service?

Thanks soooooooo much my friends! Have a great day today ;o)

TTFN xxx

15 comments:

Katarina said...

Hi

I don't use copics since they are too expensive for me, but I agree what you say about that the promarkers are too thick for certain areas.
I'm very curious though about your question so I will check back to see what answers you've gotten.

I do want to give you a tip for a blog that's very good if you want to learn how to colour later on. I think she talks about the differences between the copics too, but you will have to go through her archive. The address is:

http://www.ilikemarkers.blogspot.com/

good luck in your search!
I think scrapyland.com have copics now, but don't know if they are the cheapest. Could be worth comparing.

CraftyC said...

I get mine from here Tara
http://www.artifolk.co.uk/catalog/marker_pens.htm. They normally give next day delivery. I started out with the ciao pens, purely because of the price but this week ordered nearly 40 sketch markers, coz they are so addictive. You must get the E00 and a blender may be of use to you. I often go around the edge of an image using a pale grey. My advice would to buy a couple of shaded in your colour choice and then build up your collection, though you can shade with the same pen by going over it or add another similar colour. You will need a very smooth paper so the colour doesn't bleed and I think alot of us use a Memento ink pad. Hope this helps.
Clairexx

Karen said...

Hi Tara,

I like Claire get mine from Artifolk and they get them out next day even to me here in the Highlands of Scotland - so great service. I only have the Ciao ones (due to the price). I have a set of 36 which comes in a nice box for storage. The set I have is set A and has a good range of colours. If you go onto the artifolk website I think there is a colour chart of all the pens that they have so that you can see all the colours. They also do free postage on orders of over £40 I think. The colours are more vibrant than promarkers and there are some of the promarkers that I like to use along with the copics. The nib is soft so you are right, you can do more intricate work with them. The single price of the pens is around £1.99 - so much the same a single promarkers.

Hope this is of some help to you.

Have a great weekend.

Karen x

Mina said...

I use Copic Ciao's and contrary to popular belief they are refillable by the way, I refill mine...I but from cult pens and they are £1.95 each which I think compared to other pens is good value...I love them to bits and can colour anything with them...love colouring WOJ best with them though...isnt it wierd how some images suit some mediums...I love colouring Magnolias with distress inks also....but straying off point there lol...I would defo buy copics Tara 100% yes xxx

Mina said...

p.s. forgot to say cultpens does free postage over £10 too xxx

Stacey said...

Ooh, the Promarker v's Copic question. I have both but prefer Copics as they do blend better and aren't as chunky as Promarkers.

I have Copic Ciao and the main difference is that there aren't as many colours as there are in the sketch marker range. However, there are still about 130+ so you shouldn't have too many probs. The other difference is that the sketch markers are bigger and so hold more ink. In addition, you can't use the airbrush system with the Ciao's. Other than that (and the price!) they are the same.

I always get mine from www.cultpens.com as they are about £1.80 and it is free delivery over £10. They normally come the next day too.

They really are lovely pens but VERY addictive!

Happy shopping,
Stacey ~x~

Kirsten Alicia said...

Hi Tara, have a look at this blog http://melstampz.blogspot.com Mel gives excellent tutorials & she did one recently about what Copics to start off with. HTH, have a great weekend. Kirsten x.

Tara said...

Thanks so much for all your advice. I can have a good think now while I'm saving and I'll be visiting the links you've suggested!
;o) xx

CraftyC said...

See if this helps Tara
http://www.stampsandmemories.co.uk/catalogues/Stamping%20with%20Copic.pdf
Clairexx

cats whiskers said...

Hi Hun, I agree with everything above, I get my Copics (either sketch or orginal) from Artifolk or Cultpens. Artifolk will soon be getting the complete colour range in, but Cultpens already have them.
You must get E00 and I think C01 and C02 which are greys are also a must as these are what I outline my image with. Beware dear they are addictive
Hugs Jacqui x

Kelly Schelske said...

Hi Tara,

I have both, I started out with the Ciao ones as they are less expensive. They do have the smae ends as the Sketch markers and are refillable. Sketch markers come in more colors that Ciao and are an oval shaped pen versus Ciao are round...it doesn't matter to me what shape they are but just wanted to let you know. I do have some sketch markers now but for the most part they are the Ciao ones:-) I love them both though!

Hugs, Kelly

Christine said...

Hi Tara I'm like most like diff. colouring mediums for diff. types images, still love my Prisma pencils, I am putting a link on here from DC (Alex)very detaild dont know if you saw it but still worth another read.

http://www.docrafts.co.uk/crafttalk/messageTree.aspx?id=2918735&s=1&name=Card%20Making

Christine xx

Debbie said...

Hi Tara, the only difference between copic Sketc & Ciao is the size...the sketch holds more ink and so doesn't need refilling so often.
The cheapest place to buy them is direct from Japan...the postage is free and they are delivered within the week.

http://www.japanesemarker.jp/product/33

Hope this helps. Debbie x

Kim Costello said...

Hi Tara, thought I would get in on the topic...
I bought myself one set of copic sketch 72 D on ebay sent from Japan, but I went for the sketch because I believe it has a softer bruch nib. The only extra's I got was a black and the colourless blender with a refill from http://www.artifolk.co.uk/catalog/products/marker_pens/copic_sketch_marker_pens.htm I haven't needed to buy any more yet or need to refill any, I like to colour most images with them so they're doing pretty good I think!

Hope it helps, I know it's a biggy when your're investing a bit of cash... HuGs Kim x

Julie said...

Hi Tara

Just wanted to say thanks for asking the question cos I've been thinking about it too and have found the answers very useful