I first learned about Copic markers in my early teens. I was attending a local pop-culture convention, where I vividly remember sitting in the art room and watching an older girl drawing with them. My first thought was, “wow, it looks like digital art!”. And it really did – alcohol based markers are great for filling in perfectly even blocks of colours, and making smooth gradients for blending and shading.
A few years later, I obtained my first handful of markers, selecting the colours based on my favourite Pokemon; back then my drawings mainly consisted of cartoon fan art. But Copics are expensive, and at that age I couldn’t really afford a very wide colour palette.
It was maybe for that reason that I was rather precious with them (though any artist knows just how strong the urge is to keep new art materials unused and pristine, perhaps saving them for some super special project that never comes). None of my Copic drawings from back then even made it to my portfolio, so I don’t even have any examples of my early art to show here.
It wasn’t until a little later on that I began to use them more liberally, and purchased a second handful of markers to expand my palette. When I finally stopped being so scared of using them, I really started using them a lot!
Last month I stayed with an online friend for my first week in Germany, and his girlfriend had a big collection of Copics which she allowed me to use! I drew them each a small picture of something they liked as a thank you for letting me stay with them.
I only decided to draw these on the last day I was staying with them, so they ended up being a little rushed! But I’m trying to work on getting faster with my artwork anyway. This was a good opportunity to practice making something that looked nice without getting hung up on perfecting details.
My friend’s girlfriend also makes greeting cards, so she had a whole room full of craft equipment, stamps, and paper. So. Much. Paper! I had a go at making my own card to send back home to my husband. I drew his favourite Pokemon, Charizard, on the front. Looks like I’ve come full circle with my Copic marker adventures!
