What’s a Good Blending Combination for Copic YR16?

I’ve used Copic Markers professionally for almost 30 years. I’ve done more than my fair share of blending over the years.

But I’m always a little sad when someone asks for a marker recipe.

There’s more to artistic coloring than pretty Copic blending combinations.

Blending combos are the least of what we do, so it feels backwards to focus on blending. Hello? Markers can do more than blend!

Today, let’s look at Copic YR16 Apricot from the artist’s perspective— how do I use this orange marker in my classes and in my artwork?

Let’s get past the basic blending and find out how this marker really performs.

Copic YR16 is a Warm, Autumnal Yellow-Orange

Imagine walking though a forest in October and you step into a clearing lined with golden trees. This is the color of YR16. It’s pure autumn!

YR16 is an orange that teeters on the brink of yellow. It’s perfect for fall coloring because it bridges the gap between true orange and pure sunshine.

In the beginner’s challenge level Baby Pumpkin class project shown here, I’ve used YR07 to create the deeper zones between each lobe of the pumpkin.

About the Yellow-Red YR Color Family:

With Copic Markers, there is no “orange” family. YR is the color designation for a mixed-ink formula of yellow inks plus red inks, hence the “YR” designation.

When someone tells you “Copic calls all their orange markers YR”, you expect to see a family full of basketball colored markers.

In reality, the Copic YR palette is mostly soft flesh tones and deep brassy ambers than traditional orange markers. YR is an odd family of colors and YR16 is one of the few in the “true orange” category.

About Copic’s YR “Tens” or “Teens” Ink Group:

YR16 is part of the “Ten” group of YR markers— the first number in the ID code tells you the group number.

In general, Copics which start with 0 are similar to those starting with 1. They’re usually similar in temperature. The difference is that Zeros are very bright and almost highlighter type colors while the Ten family is bright but a little more natural. The Zeros and Ones mix and blend well with each other.

Learn more about the Copic Numbering system in my article at MarkerNovice.com here.

The YR-Teens are an odd family in that they don’t all come from the same mother ink. (For an explanation of “mother ink” read my article about the Copic numbering system here.) Basically, the YR-Teens are not related to each other as closely as other Copic number groups. YR18 feels cooler than YR16 which means they don’t belong in the same ink group. YR14 is darker than YR15 which means one of them is also in the wrong group.

About the Color Value:

The second number in the code YR16 is 6. This tells you that YR16 is at the darker end of the YR-Teen group (nine would be the darkest if they ever make a YR19).

Unfortunately, YR16 measures a little lighter on the value scale than promised. It measures at a 5 instead of 6. You’ll notice this large jump when trying to blend YR16 with YR18, the colors are a little farther apart than you’d expect.

Watch me color with YR16 in this FREE video at YouTube

(click below to be taken to the video at YouTube)

About the Name “Apricot”:

YR16 is named after the fruit. Apricots are a member of the same stone-fruit family as peaches, nectarines, and plums.

Copic color names often seem odd; perhaps they don’t translate well from Japanese to English. It’s frustrating that many Copic colors do not resemble the object or color they’re named after.

In this case, the name actually makes sense. YR16 Apricot is a yellowish orange marker and the inside flesh of the apricot fruit is a similar golden color.

Is Copic YR16 Lightfast?

Does it fade quickly? Can it be erased? Does it shatter? Does the cap color match the ink color?

I’ve tested YR16 ink to help you better predict how this ink will behave during use.

See the test results for:

• Lightfastness

• Layering

• Color Build-up

• Dilution

• Value

• Cap Accuracy

• Behavior upon contact with Colorless Blender

MarkerNovice.com is the sister site to VanillaArts.com where I offer reliable information for Copic Marker beginners.

Substitutes for Copic YR16 Apricot:

Keep in mind that similar colors always have different chemical formulas. They may look the same but that’s where the similarities end.

This means that one marker can blend like a dream while a similar color can be stubborn, staining and reluctant to blend.

But if you don’t have YR16 and you’re looking for a similar golden orange…

• YR15 is one step lighter. These two colors are so similar that I never use them in blends together because there’s just not enough difference between the two colors.

• YR04 is a little more golden but could easily be mistaken for either YR15 or YR16.

How do I use Copic YR16 Apricot in classes and projects?

To be honest, I don’t use YR16 much… and that actually surprises me.

I went searching through my class materials all the way back to 2014 and I’ve only used YR16 a few times.

Apparently, I use YR15 a lot which explains why YR16 sees less use.

As I stated above, the two colors are so similar that I never use them together. All these years, I’ve been reaching for YR15 and ignoring YR16.

I did reach for YR16 to color this cute pumpkin and now I’m wondering why it called to me.

Here, I’ve paired YR16 with Y38 and YR18 plus a murky blue green underpaint

Neither YR16 or YR18 are easy blending colors, so the addition of the extra solvent in Y28 encourages the darker orange markers to blend.

More solvent equals better blending:

• YR16 - Y38 is relatively to blend smoothly

• YR16 -YR14 requires patience to smooth completely

Read More:

Click to visit more orange coloring articles here at Vanilla Arts

Blending Combinations using Copic YR16 Apricot

Here are a few sample blends using YR16.

In the Self Blending swatch, I’ve created 3 layers of YR16. The darker left side is three coats of ink, the middle mid-tone is two layers, and the far right is one layer of ink.

You can tell it’s only one coat on the right because of the streaks. One layer of ink rarely looks smooth!

People don’t often think about blending a marker with itself but self-blending always creates the easiest gradient possible. Markers always blend well with themself!

Next is a natural blending combination using YR16 as the darkest marker.

A natural blending combination is 2-3 markers which all share the same first number.

Natural blendss are usually easy blends but in the case of YR-Ten markers, you may have a few issues. The entire family is “staining” which means they grab onto paper fibers and don’t let go easily. The darker colors stain worse but all the YR-Tens are reluctant to blend.

The Darker Blend uses YR16 as the lightest color. I added a reddish E brown as the darkest color because Copic does not make a YR19. E09 felt like it could be a darker version of YR18. It’s a pretty blend but you can see it didn’t blend as smoothly as I wanted. This is what happens when you mix stubborn oranges with a very stubborn brown.

The last swatch is my favorite and this is the blend I used in the pumpkin project featured in this article. BG93 is a murky green color, it barely has any blue flavor at all. I used the BG90’s in the stem of the pumpkin so it was only natural to use one of these markers underneath the orange for the shady underside of the pumpkin.

Tips for Blending YR16:

Note: YR16 is a staining marker which means it will never blend as easily as a non-staining color like B32 or Y04.

• Work fast— Don’t let YR16 dry on the paper before trying to blend it out. The longer it sits, the more firmly it grips the paper. Your best blends with YR16 will always be wet on wet.

• Be generous with your blending inks— No blend works well when you skimp on ink but stubborn colors require extra juice to blend smoothly.

• If you can, use YR16 as the darkest marker in the blending combination. Lighter colors have more solvent in the formula and solvent is what allows inks to blend smoothly. Partnering YR16 with lighter markers gives you a bit of extra solvent muscle!

• Red ink is the reason why YR colors are staining. Red latches onto paper fibers and doesn’t want to budge. And yes— there is a red component to YR16. I like to tame orange markers by adding at least one Y yellow marker to the blending combination. Yellow always carries a lot of solvent in the mixture, so Y38 can blend YR16 smoother than YR14 or YR12. This doesn’t work if you want the orange to stay pure orange but if you don’t mind a hint of yellow, you’ll get a better blend with the addition of Y markers.

The most important tip for coloring with orange markers:

I don’t know if it’s because beginners have only a few markers to choose from or if there’s something odd going on with how people see color…

But I see a lot of people using red markers to shade orange objects.

Red is not “dark orange”.

Orange is a weird color.

True orange is also pretty rare in nature.

The fruit we call “an orange” is actually yellow. They’re breeding oranger oranges now but organic and heirloom oranges are yellow.

Add to this, cameras don’t see orange correctly. So for years, professional photographers have been photo-shopping orange items to make them oranger.

When they do this, it makes orange shadows look red.

Real shaded orange is a murky, almost brown color.

I know it’s tempting to grab a red marker to shade a pumpkin or carrot but shade only looks realistic when you use de-saturated colors.

Think about it, shade is an area with less light, right?

So you need an orange that’s less orange to create realistic looking shade.

Red is more color, not less.

Red is red, not dark orange. They’re not in the same color family.

Shade and Highlight Suggestions for YR16 Apricot:

If you’ve read color articles here at VanillaArts.com or taken any of my classes, you know I teach an underpainting method.

In underpainting, we choose opposite colors on the color wheel to add the realistic murkiness found in real-life shade. We “desaturate” with complementary colors. Read more in my article series here.

After I underpaint and blend with Copics, I come back with colored pencils to boost the shade and add highlights.

My underpaint colors and my pencil colors rarely match the Copics.

Shade suggestions for YR16 Apricot:

Copic Underpaint— B21, B32, BV00, BV20, BV31, V01, V12, or V20. You can also experiment with pale BGs like BG93, BG11, or BG000. Green also works but it’s an acquired taste. Try G42 or G12.

Prismacolor Pencil Overpaint: PC931 Dark Purple, PC1008 Parma Violet, PC937 Tuscan Red, or PC1033 Mineral Orange. In the pumpkin shown here, I used PC1097 Moss Green.

Highlight suggestions for YR16 Apricot:

As the lightest color in a YR16 bending combination: YR12, YR61, or Y38

Prismacolor Pencil Overpaint: PC914 Cream, PC940 Sand, PC917 Sunburst Yellow

Is YR16 a good orange marker for beginners?

Uhmmmm… maybe.

I teach beginner classes with YR07 because it blends easier than YR16.

Remember, no orange is an easy-blender—they’re all stubborn by nature.

So it’s not like YR07 is super-easy to blend, it’s just the easiest of all the traditional oranges.

I’d say if you like the look of YR16 and the YR-Teen family better than YR-Zeros, then use the colors you like more! The Teens are not that much harder to blend.

Go ahead and give YR16 a try!

Read more about my starter set with tips for building your marker collection in my article here.

Learning Resources for Copic YR16 Apricot

See YR16 in action:

Use our Vanilla Undercover swatches to add realistic depth and shade to your next coloring project.

We publish new swatches every Thursday.

Vanilla Undercover is sponsored by Violeta-Ink.com

Orange: Online Classes, Kits, and Digital Stamps

(Click for more info)

Copic Postcard Kit

Lets learn to color with YR16 plus a full fall color palette.

Copic Postcard Kit

Perfect for every skill level

Six easy-print PDF postcards + swatch cards

The Colors of Autumn: Gold, Orange, Vermilion, Brown, Sage, and Lavender

Perfect for Copic Markers with or without colored pencils

Class Printable Pack Includes: 

• SIX digital stamps, one for every color- YR16 Pumpkin (shown here), YR24 Mulled Cider, E29 Pinecone, BV31 Dried Hydrangea, YG93 Chestnut, and R08 Red Capped Mushrooms

• SIX easy-print PDF swatch cards for every color. One card includes Amy’s color suggestions, the second is blank for your experiments

Cards are sized 5x7” with margin room for binding into a color reference booklet

Supplies used in YR16 Postcard

Vanilla Arts Company is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for use to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com.