“So how many Copics do you own?” A question I hear regularly. It is a hazard of the job. Everyone wants to know how many do I own, how many do they “need” and where do they start. It is a perfect question and EXACTLY the right one to ask when you are starting out with Copics.
I can say at this moment that I own 333. I own most, I have skipped half of the grays, I own the odd numbers of all 4 gray families. So there is 24 that are not sitting on my desk. Then there is the elusive G02, it keeps giving me the slip. He he. Here is a peak at one corner of my desk storage unit.
Do I “need” them all? If I were not doing what I am doing, teaching and designing for Imagination International, Inc. I would NOT! But Copics are my career, albeit my dream job, and a wonderful excuse to collect/hoard this amazing product, but I would not have them all if I was not in this job. I would own about 120-150 and would probably hang around that number for a good long time. That is still a lot of markers though right?!
So the final question is where do I start?
I actually wrote a post answering this very question For Get It Scrapped in 2011. I had been slowly collecting my first precious markers often one by one with coupons and sales. So I understood how important it was to make smart purchases. I also at the time could not afford a complete set all at once.
The Copic Markers You Need in Your Starter Set
The information in the post above is still very accurate. I would make some of the very same choices I made back then when forming my own set. But of course as life changes and we change some of my selections would look different. Here is a list of the first 36 markers I would buy NOW if I had none sitting on my desk 🙂 I focused in on what I thought I would be coloring, mostly stamped images of people, plants and flowers, animals on occasion. In general images for cards and scrapbook pages.
B00, B02, B04 – still a favorite set of natural blending blues
BG000 – I love this to fade to white on sky
BV20, BV23, BV25 – a must for creating depth and shadows!
V12, V04, V17 Love how the V04 in the middle pops the purples!
YG61, YG63, YG67 – I like the Greens but if I have to narrow it to 36 I might pick these over my Greens
YG01, Yg03, YG07 – I enjoy these brighter yellow greens these days
Y00, Y21, Y28, Y32, Y35, Y38 – covers blonds and a lot of other hair colors as well as gold and warm hello surfaces
YR31, YR14, YR24 – all a must for hair colors
R21, R24, R29, R59 – slight change to add depth
No RV’s – I love them but again if I am focusing in on my most used and a small set these would disappear to make room for others.
E00, E01, E93, E21, E25, E27, E29 – not enough Earth tones but my starter picks I use these more then any others
I would add a 0, colorless blender, it is really not an option, not for blending but for all of it’s amazing effects. I would also encourage crafters to find one group of grays, the neutrals is a great place to start and get either the evens or odds you do not need every one of them for most crafting endeavors. There are always a few more that would be nice to have and every artist, YES THAT IS YOU, is going to need to evaluate what will work best for them.
I would highly recommend taking a few Copic classes, live ones if you can find them that supply the markers so you can see how the colors work together and really learn to understand the numbering system before investing huge amounts of money into you collection! If you would like to see the complete schedule of Copic classes we still have coming up in 2016 check them out HERE.
In the mean time I continue to answer the questions at the top regularly, at the classes I teach, here at my blog, and even at Get It Scrapped in connection to my original post above. So ask away! I am more then happy to help!
Have a Happy Colorful Day!
