I have been very tempted to purchase Copic markers, but I have never been that good with markering and never had the experience. Does anyone own any? Are they worth it for the price? Would you get them in a set or individually? Or should I try other markers first?

I own 6 of them that I got for Christmas.
They are well worth the price, but the sets are more worth it, so you can add more shades, tints, and colors to the images.

Did you buy them online?

My mom got mine at the Hobby Lobby for $6 a piece.

Dang. At Ohayo Con they were selling them for $3 bucks a piece. I just don't know what I want more: copic markers or a wacom tablet.

I'll root for the tablet. It seems like you do more CG...

I do, but that's the reason why I do it so much. I don't know many other mediums.

As a friendly reccommendation I would suggest learning to do art from the bottom up. Your stuff strongly shows your lack of technical skill and ignorance of fundamentals. CG is a good shortcut, but without a strong foundation to build it on it will never be that great.

As for markers, go down to Utrekt (sp?). It's right on high street in the short north. Doing south it will be on the left.

i have copics i got them online at copicmarkerS.com

and mine were for 12 to 13 at a time 3.75 a piece with shipping. but if u bougth all the colors at the same time it's like 2.75 a marker with shipping. but i didn't have that much money for markers

i have 25 total and i love them

How much do they charge for them there?

Utrecht Art Supplies. I think they're maybe $5 each, or something like that.

I would say that you might want to start learning with some less expensive markers, if you're not experienced with them. I personally use Prismacolors, simply because I'm still learning to work with the medium, and they don't cost as much as the Copics.

I use crayola. Because I can't draw. At all.

The best stuff on earth.
Mhm, mhm, mhmmmm....

*sniffs fanart of pikachu* Mmm Lemony fresh.

I have a few prisma, I actually don't care for them that much. Unless I just have to get use to them and learn to like them?

You might want to consider some night classes or a course at a community college. Fundamentals are pretty damn fundamental.

When I took some art classes up in Cleveland, they made you go through all the basic mediums like pencil, charcoal, etc. never markers.

I'm thinking that copics were designed so colors don't overlap when you go over them a lot...
(see picture of Ann and Penny in the last pic thread thingy)

you can also blend the colors easily with them...



Only being able to work with skin tones.. (my mom bought me a black one, a red one, and a purple one, and 3 skin tone ones), it takes a little practice, but fun to use. =D

yes let's get high off of art.

that's the best art in the world

It's very much that way with prismas, and I think it's the same with copic too from what I've heard. Though once I got use to my prismas, and really learned how to draw with them, I pretty much love them.

I don't know if you can see, since scanners are evil to traditional art...

One of my first times with prismas, coloring page



Couple months ago(though the scanner tilted it blue for some reason.)


Using colorless blenders with prisma really helps though.
One of two times using colorless blender

Those look more like prismacolor pencils than markers, Yuffie. They are pencils, right? XD

But um, I <3 my prismacolor pencils, I love them, they are the best thing ever invented but damn if I don't always manage to break the pencil I need the most ;_;

They have markers? Eh, I'm very stupid right now.

Still, I think they're cooler then markers. I've tried markers a few times, but I just don't like them.

The ones I need break, then I sharpen them, then they break again. My black is a tiny little stub.

Yup, prismacolor makes markers ^^. I haven't ever bought any though, because I haven't figured out something I could do with them that I couldn't do with photoshop (at least, nothing worth the price.)

Pencils are much better <333

Prisma pretty much rules the art world for "intermediate" art student supplies. They make everything. You'll be amazed at things they make.

I think if you can afford to buy the more expensive art supplies like Copic, then by all means spring for them. Never hurts to try out new media. That said, I'm of the opinion that cheaper alternatives (i.e., Crayola) can achieve results just as good as "high art" supplies.

As far as markers, I've never tried Copic. Might like to one day, but since my realm of interests have drifted into CG, I rarely color with traditional media, so I personally wouldn't want to own a set. Prisma markers bleed like all hell unless you get special paper made especially for markers, but as I said, I'm cheap as hell, and why splurge for special paper that I might not even use?

Crayola makes a deluxe marker set that I used for years before I turned to CG. There are LOTS of colors to work with, minimal if any bleeding, and the set itself is easy to find. Looks like this:

XD I think that's the first time I've ever heard of prismacolor as referred to as intermediate.

I personally think they are partly because I don't know many professional artist that do use them. I know most use Copic or other higher up level markers.

I don't think you can do better then prismas colored pencils though, colored pencil wise.

I used to use these often as a child. My only issue with them was skin toning.

Personally, I don't know many professional artists that use markers, period. From my experience, people either tend towards CG (which pretty much has the same effect as markers, if you do it right, it just looks better,) or gravitate towards more traditional mediums like oils, pastels, acrylics, et cetera. (and the ones I have seen, do use Prismacolor more) It could just be all personal experience, of course.

I am curious, which proffesionals, or at least which venues have you experienced this? Genuine curiosity, really.

(Though really, every artist prefers their own mediums, and how good the work turns out really, in the long run, depends on the skill of the person working the medium, and not the medium itsself. I've seen students turn out horrid paintings done with great materials, and I've seen one of my professors pull a work of art out of scraps of paper and stuff he found lying around his house.)

Agreed.

i would like to add i hate prisma colors. but that's just me

my fave thing to color with if i'm gonna color is chalk!!!

Yeah, I'm a little curious what pros you know too.

Ah, I always used colored pencils for skin tones. Then again, I used colored pencils and markers in combinations on most everything back then.