10 Ways to Kill a Copic Nib

It was Miss Scarlett in the library with the candlestick...

No, maybe it was Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the wrench.

Ah ha! I've got it now...

It was Mr. Prismacolor in the studio with an alcohol based solvent!

Yeah, my Clue game board is perhaps slightly different than yours.

But the point is that we've got a dead Copic marker nib and someone is definitely to blame.

Whodunnit?

A Student has a question about Copic Nib safety:

You mentioned to be careful of using Copics with some ink liners that they can ruin the marker. So my question is what other things will ruin the marker? Can graphite pencil ruin the marker tip? What about color pencil, will the wax ruin it?

Here's my brain-dump on the subject:

Meaning it's a loose conglomeration of personal sorrows combined with things I've heard from students...

First we need to distinguish between the dead and the unfortunately maimed.

A dead Copic marker nib is one that has been damaged beyond repair and needs to be replaced.

You can do that? Yep, they sell replacement nibs and you can do surgery on your marker, right from home. Also, if your local Copic retailer offers refilling service, they can do it for you. Many Copic instructors also offer the service to their students.

By the way, a "nib" is a fancy-pants technical term for the tips of your Copic marker.

An unfortunately maimed Copic marker nib is one that is ugly but still perfectly serviceable.

What damages Copic nibs?

And in the spirit of a murder mystery, let's run through a list of unfortunate accidents.

What can kill a marker nib and what will damage or maim it, leaving you with only partial function?

1. Stamping with the wrong ink pad

Copic ink has an alcohol based solvent. If you stamp with an ink pad that uses a similar solvent to stay moist and juicy and then color over it with a Copic marker, you most likely will reactivate that ink. The first clue that something is amiss will be that your marker starts to smear the stamped lines. At that point, you've likely discolored your marker tip (maiming). If you keep going long enough, you're going to pick up enough stamp ink particles that you'll either clog the pores of your nib which impedes proper ink flow (a definite kill) or you'll forever be leaving streaks of ink pad ink everytime you use that marker (not fatal but essentially a kill).

And no, heat setting does not solve your incompatible ink pad problem!!! That's dead wrong, wrongity-wrong. A solvent will always have the ability to chemically reconstitute an ink, no matter how long you let it dry, no matter how much you heat set it. You may prolong the amount of time it takes to smear that ink but it will still happen eventually.

2. Incompatible Ink Jet printer inks

See stamp pad ink above. Same story only with definitely tragic consequences.

This does not apply to ALL ink jet printers. HP and Brother each have several ink formulations that are Copic safe. If you're a digital stamp collector, you really need to test the printer ink before you buy the printer.

3. Microns or technical pens other than Multiliners

Okay, there's always someone who did it and didn't die. Different line pens have different inks, and I suspect the paper also has something to do with the process. But just like stamp pads, you can pick up, drag, and smear technical pen ink. And just like stamp pads, heat setting or long dry times won't negate the incompatibility problem.

Copic developed and sells Multiliners precisely because of this problem. And frankly, I don't understand the reluctance of many Manga artists to switch from Microns to Multiliners. Sheesh, you pay big bucks for each Copic marker but you won't spend the extra $1 to get a technical pen that won't kill your $7 marker??? On what planet does that make good economical sense?

4. Colored Pencils, wax or oil based pigment sticks

The official spiel is that you always do your colored pencil work AFTER you've finished ALL the Copic work. And once you put down colored pencil, you NEVER go back and touch anything up.

Copic solvent will dissolve the binder in colored pencil marks which then frees the pigment particles up to clog the pores in your Copic nibs.

Having given you the officially official word, I'll tell you that I'm guilty of violating this law quite regularly. And I've seen other artists violate it religiously, with fervor, and without a care in the world.

It can clog your nibs. But it's not going to happen instantaneously. You have to do it a lot and you've got to be deliberately scrubbing the area repeatedly to encourage the clogging.

So, don't do what I do unless you're prepared to deal with the consequences.

5. Charcoal, graphite, pastels, and other unbound grainy items like raw or unfired clay (and even dirty surfaces)

Unlike colored pencils, these items have less binder holding the pigment grains together. Unbound pigments are pretty much guaranteed to clog your nibs on the very first pass.

Will they kill it? Uhhhh.... maybe. I'd imagine clay or pastel is an immediate kill. Clay is pretty wicked.

But I have several nibs that are essentially stained with graphite. They're ugly but they're not clogged and have never transferred the graphite to other projects. Graphite stains are the bane of folks like me who draw, then ink, then color their projects. Even with a good eraser, you always leave some graphite behind and your Copic marker will eventually find it.

6. Poster paint and white-out

Basically, we're talking about inexpensive matte paints here. They're usually water based but some white outs have acetone or alcohol as a base.

That matte, shine free, paper like surface they produce is because the particles aren't well bonded to the paper. There's always some rub-off potential, even with a wet finger.

Even a slight touchdown with a Copic will lift off particles and clog the pores.

Yes, I want Beans!

8. Acrylic paint, faux embossing, lacquered items

Copic solvent does a pretty mean job on some plastics, especially acrylic based paints and even cured embossing powders. 

It won't happen instantaneously, not with one touch but with enough contact and the natural friction caused by normal coloring strokes, you will gum up your nibs.

Even worse are lacquered items- non-traditional surface like a gift box or even a shiny or pearl glazed specialty papers. Lacquers ARE by definition alcohol based, so it's not a "maybe it'll clog the pores eventually" but an "it's gonna ruin it darned quick" kind of situation.

And yes, I know you card makers think of embossing powders as "embossing" but it's actually a faux process meant to mimic the look of embossing/debossing. If you're heat-setting a a powder, you're doing the fake thing.

9. Copic Jelly

Here's one you may not have thought of but I'd be willing to bet it's on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Copic Jelly? Really?

Yep. Every time you cap your marker, your marker dings up against the inside of the cap. Often used caps begin to get really messy inside. The ink kinda-maybe-sorta dries on the inside of the cap but it never really fully dries. It's sticky. It's jellyish.

So if you've got a jelly coated marker cap, now every time you replace that cap, you're rubbing a bit of jelly onto your marker tip. It happens with the brush tips A LOT. When you collect enough jelly on your nib, it starts to look dark and leaves jelly streaks on your project. The jelly also prevents full ink flow in those dark patches. Leave it long enough and the entire brush nib will get hard and gunky.

Gunky. That's a technical term.

So cleaning your caps isn't just a think that Copic bloggers like to write about, it's something you really need to stay on top of.

Don't underestimate the importance of good Marker Hygiene.

Okay, so there are 9 ways to maim or kill your Copic nibs.

But ten would be so much nicer, no?

So here's number 10...

10. The family dog

Uhm...

Don't ask me how I know that a dog's tongue will remain a lovely shade of V09 for approximately 3.25 days....

Sticky Tack: The Gentle Eraser for Colored Pencil

“Primum non nocere”: First, do no harm

This is something that runs through my head when a student pulls out one of these to correct a colored pencil mistake.

This is a detail eraser. It is designed to scrub away ink or grease mistakes from office grade, smooth paper. It is a very firm eraser which allows it to be sharpened to a fine point for small areas. It's also highly abrasive which means it rubs away more than just the mistake, it takes off the top layer of stained paper fibers with it.

But for soft, waxy colored pencil on delicately toothy paper?

You might as well use a hand grenade.

If you've got one of these weapons of mass destruction in your art kit, go put it back in the office drawer, where it belongs.

Right now.

I'll wait here.

I've been using colored pencils on an almost daily basis for over 25 years. I can honestly say that I've never encountered a situation where a mistake was so bad that it required stripping off the entire top surface of my paper.

Yes, I've made serious mistakes, but nothing that ever required the use of a hand grenade.

Colored pencils work best on toothy paper

Tooth is texture; tiny little micro mountains that grab and hold colored pencil pigment.

If you've tried using colored pencil on slick paper, you know how hard it is to get it to lay down smooth and not rub off. It's like trying to spread peanut butter on freshly Zambonied ice. You can try but hey, good luck with that.

Paper quality is a big deal; toothy paper is something colored pencil artists pay extra for.And that hand grenade eraser up there? It'll kill your paper.

Respect the tooth

Now I'm going to assume that most stamp colorers are using some form of office grade cardstock for colored pencil. There's nothing wrong with that, not all projects deserve special paper.

But that doesn't mean that you can ignore the tooth. In fact, because you're using only moderately textured paper, you need to protect the limited tooth EVEN MORE than someone working on generously toothed, premium cold press paper.

Abrasive erasers wear the paper smooth. The more you rub, the less tooth survives. So yes, you may have removed the offending mistake but when you reapply color, that smoothed area will not grab the colored pencil the way it did before. If you really damage the paper, you'll have a shiny zone that stands out to viewers.

So when you make the inevitable mistake and you reach for an eraser, remember Primum non nocere- first do no harm.

Start with the most gentle eraser you can find. If that doesn't lift the error, then bring out a slightly bigger gun. Do not start with a Tyrannosaurus Rex eraser; start with a soft, fluffy, white bunny rabbit.

Yes, I want Beans!

Sticky Tack is the fluffy bunny of the eraser world

Sticky tack?

Yep. Poster putty. The stuff that your fourth grade teacher used to put "Hang in There" and "Give a Hoot, Don't Polute" up on the class room walls.

This stuff.

Duck is a good brand, so is Scotch Brand. You want the white kind, not the softer blue or green versions.

Pull off one  strip (there's usually 8-12 strips per package). A single strip is enough to last for at least 6 months. You'll need a small airtight container (film canister sized) to hold your working piece. Pop the rest of the package into a zip lock bag for longer term storage.

Sticky Tack is Not a Kneaded Eraser Substitute

Gray kneaded erasers are for working with charcoal, graphite, and chalky dry pastels. You drag gray erasers across the paper to gently lift powdery marks. Gray erasers are lightly abrasive and they are not sticky enough to lift stubborn and waxy pigments like colored pencil.

Sticky tack is lightly sticky. That's why it works. Use it the same way you used Silly Putty to lift up your favorite Sunday Comics.

1. Soften and knead the sticky tack into a smooth, warm ball.

2. Gently press into the surface of the mistake.

3. The sticky tack will grab the paper; hold the paper down with one hand while gently peeling away the sticky tack with the other.

4. Knead the residue into the eraser to create new clean surfaces.

5. Repeat as necessary until you've lifted away the mistake.

I know it sounds crazy but this stuff really works. Best of all, it doesn't damage the tooth of the paper the way rubbing erasers do.

The other benefit of this lift and remove method is that it eliminates transfer smudges. Let's face it, it's pretty easy to drag Prismacolor pigment into unwanted areas. I wear a drawing glove to prevent hand dragging marks. Rubbing erasers often pull color into your cleaning area... which then requires more rubbing. It's a vicious cycle.

Lifting mistakes straight upward eliminates the potential for eraser smudges.

When I make a mistake, I use the sticky tack eraser first

As I said, start with the fluffy bunny, not the T-Rex.

If the sticky tack can't remove the oops, move up to your white eraser. But give that sticky tack several tries first, because the white eraser will drag and transfer pigment.

But honestly, the sticky tack almost always removes enough of the pigment that I can go back and add the correct color.

Remember, you don't have to get down to naked paper in order to fix a mistake. Most Prismas are fairly opaque and can cover over much of the mistake.

Here's the rundown on sticky tack erasers:

Alternate Names-

Sticky tack, poster putty, sticky stuff, adhesive putty

Brands- 

Duck, Scotch... choose a quality WHITE putty. The dollar store stuff was gooey and left residue. The colored versions seem to be softer but less sticky. Make sure it's fresh and clean, the once-used stuff in your junk drawer may have collected grit.

Defining Features-

A soft putty that clings to waxy pigment enough to lift it away but will not damage the paper or leave a residue.

Best used on-

Wax based colored pencil marks and other media that sit on top of the paper surface. Will not work on liquids like ink or paint that absorb into paper fibers.

Price Range-

Very inexpensive. One package will run just a few dollars and provides enough for several years of daily use.

Available at-

Office supply stores, hardware stores, or similar aisles in any big-box retailer.

Sticky tack... who'da thunk?

Go get some today, your tooth will thank you for it.

Six Tips to Fix Copic Marker Blending Problems

Listen to your markers

The strokes do not lie.

One of the many benefits of attending live classes is that a good teacher can spot your technical problems as they occur and help you adjust your technique.

But how do you do this for yourself when coloring at home?

As a teacher and experienced colorer, I can usually look at your project and tell you why your markers are not blending well. I don't actually have to see your process, I can read it on your paper. That ability has nothing to do with my world-renowned psychic talents. I'm not an Indian guide in my free time and I can't put my ear to the ground and tell you how many horsebacked banditos are following us through the canyon...

But that doesn't mean that I can't read the obvious signs.

You can read the signs too.

Marker strokes do not lie. They're like footprints that either lead to success or odd little boo-boo areas.

Everyone has a few projects sitting at home that they're not very proud of. You don't hang these on the fridge because you know something isn't quite right. What you might not realize is that these goofs are valuable; you can learn from your previous mistakes. Failed projects can tell you exactly what you did wrong, if you're willing to listen.

So let's take a look at the 6 most common blending mistakes I see in classroom settings. Then I want you to pull out your most recent project o' shame and see if you're guilty. Spotting the tendency is half the battle to solving the problem. Once you're aware of your bad habits, you can remind yourself to avoid the same mistakes during your next coloring session.

Common Marker Issues

1. Bleeding Strokes

Do you have hairy looking marker strokes?

If you're happily coloring along and that mean old ink is bleeding uncontrollably, with every mark you make, STOP IMMEDIATELY.

Please check your paper. Is it good quality blending card or marker specific paper?

No?

I've met a few students who can't quite understand why they color so awesomely in class but never get it right at home.

And while I'd love to take the credit for creating a magical classroom atmosphere where unicorns dance and students tap into the universal well of artistic talent... 

Nope, there are no leprechauns under my classroom tables. The magic comes from using the right paper. I give all my students great quality blending paper, especially designed for marker use.

Marker paper is hot pressed for maximum smoothness and then coated with pixie dust (or more likely, a polymer coating) that both slows down the marker dry time and encourages blending.

So if you're coloring at your kitchen table on a sheet of Office Barn's Bargain Bin copy paper...

Do I really need to explain this one further?

If you want to blend well at home, buy the right paper.

2. Inadequate Moisture

When you bake a batch of box-mix brownies, what happens if you decide to cut back on the wet ingredients? Let's say you put in half the water and fewer eggs.

How awesome will those brownies turn out?

Tender and chewy brownies require the correct amount of moisture in the batter. Half dry brownie batter full of powdery lumps will never bake properly.

We all know this and yet we take squeaky, pale tipped Copic Markers and try to squeeze one last project out before we refill it.

I know, I'm right there with you. I don't own a bottle of refill ink for every one of my markers and there's no way to get some refilled when I'm coloring at 9:30pm in my pajamas.

Beautiful blending requires moisture. The solvent that is present in the inks is what allows the two colors of dye to swirl and merge into a third color. If you're missing out on the juice, you're simply not going to get a proper blend because you're lacking the lubrication that allows two different inks to get together and get happy with each other.

Your marker doesn't need to be at the squeaky stage to be running low. Run the edge of your fingernail up the side of the brush tip to check how juicy it is. You should see the ink shine as you press into the brushtip with your fingernail. Your fingernail should come away with quite a bit of color on it too. And lastly, that brushtip should feel smooth and slick to your nail, any trace of gumminess means it needs more juice.

3. Hesitation Blobs

When I was five, I was the flower-girl in my aunt's wedding. I got to toss confetti from a basket that was about twice as full as it needed to be. I was told to toss one handful to the left and one to the right, until I got to the stage.

What they didn't count on was a traffic jam.

I tossed like a pro. Left, right, left, right. And when the line stopped mid-way down the aisle, I kept tossing. Left, right, left, right, as confetti piled up around my feet. I ran out long before the bridesmaids all made it up on stage. Never ask 6 ladies to quickly climb stairs in long, tight column gowns.

That's how markers work too. You don't have to go anywhere for them to release ink. With colored pencil, you have to physically drag and press to make a mark. No movement, no mark.

Not markers. They gush as soon as you touch down and keep gushing until you lift up.

That feature works against people with hesitant strokes.

See the ink pools on either end of this orange stroke? That's a 1 second stop in my movement. One second is enough to put little blobs on the beginning or end of any stroke you make.

Smooth blending is the result of an even layer of color and an even dry time. Concentrations or pools are difficult to blend because they require more attention and then stay wet longer than surrounding areas.

Hesitation blobs are especially problematic when you leave one in the middle of a face or in an area of what should be smooth sky or background.

A smooth stroke will touch down, move, and lift in one smooth stroke. It's evenly timed and balanced, without leaving a beginning or end blob.

Yes, I want Beans!

4. Color Walls

Walls occur when you forget to flick or feather.

It happens when you start coloring too fast and your flicks turn into a zig-zag back and forth stroke that never quite lifts up off the paper.

I've used YG67 here in a zig zag application. See the blunt tips on the left ends of each stroke? There's no lift off or triangle tapering-off, the pigment just stops dead and reverses direction.

That makes it harder for the YG63 to come along and blend with it.

Think about it- if you're building a road, you don't want to leave a big pile of unusued asphalt at the end of the road when your shift ends. By the time you get to work tomorrow, that pile will be hardened and you'll have to grind it down before you can continue the road out smoothly.

So why would you leave a big pile of pigment at the end of your strokes? You're going to have to melt down that wall before any blending can begin. Often times, you'll have to really scrub at a wall. If you taper your strokes instead of zig-zagging, you will have a much easier time blending.

5. Tip-Flicking

My most timid students tip-flick.

Maybe it's because they're intimidated by the color, perhaps they're conserving ink, or maybe they figure that small marks are easier to correct than big marks.

It doesn't really matter why you tip-flick, you make your life harder when you don't give yourself adequate space to blend.

Here's tip flicking at it's worst.

In order to feather, we need a nice build up of each color plus an area where the two colors can meld and blend and genrerally overlap each other.

So that's three zones you need:

1. Color A all by itself

2. Color A & Color B getting happy with each other

3. Color B all by itself

Tip flickers cheat the first zone and leave no ink for the blend zone. You simply can't blend if you don't have enough color there to blend with. There's lots of BG05 here but who is she supposed to dance with? The BG09 strokes need to be longer and closer together in order to survive the blending process, otherwise it's going to look like all 05 by the time you get it all smooth.

6. Oil Slicks

Oil slicks happen when your paper becomes saturated beyond its holding capacity. Basically, you've dumped a gallon of ink on a one teaspoon area.

When your paper can't absorb more ink, the remaining ink begins to congeal in a jelly layer on top of the paper. It looks dark and can sometimes be sticky. With Copic inks, it will have a slight metallic sheen, just like rainbow oil spills on the street after a rainstorm.

Oil slicks usually happen for one of two reasons:

1. You made a mistake and over-corrected with a lot of colorless blender plus a second (and third layer) of the original marker colors.

2. You tip flicked or built a wall, then overused your lightest marker in an effort to coax out a decent blend.

What you can't see in this scan of my oil slick is the sticky area in the center. I had to use a bit of alcohol on a tissue to clean off the glass of my scanner because this picture left an ink smudge.

I have a few students that if I don't keep their hands busy, they'll go back to previously colored areas and add more. They add more to everything. They'll re-blend perfectly good areas, they'll re-smooth the smooth sections. I'm not sure why but some students have trouble just letting things be.

If you know that you have a heavy hand with your inks or that you're a frequent re-blender, you need to monitor the back of your paper- CONSTANTLY. If the backside starts looking identical to the front, you're on teetering on the ledge between a-okay and Exxon Valdez.

Once the paper gets this colorful on the backside, no good can come from adding anything more.

Oil slicks will not dry, they will not lighten. In fact, I've long suspected that oil slicks actually get darker as they get rubbery- exactly like the ketchup that congeals inside the bottle cap.

Six marker errors which damage your coloring

I'm guilty of all of them at one time or another, especially dry-markering.

Oh boy, do I love to dry marker stuff. Nine times out of ten when the thought runs through my brain "Huh, guess you can't color very well today, Amy" it's a sure sign that I need to stop and refill the darned marker.

Instead of berating yourself for having a bad coloring day, next time take a look at your marker strokes. What are you doing to create the problem. Diagnose the problem and you can turn a gray day into B14!

What's your private pitfall? Tell us about it and let's commiserate together!

How to Tip-Load Copic Markers for Extra Juiciness

Coloring cute geckos with tiny spots…

But unlike last month's pointillism technique, this month the dots are REMOVED rather than ADDED.

I do this with a 0 Copic marker- that's a zero, the so-called Colorless Blender.

But there's a trick to getting pretty little colorless blender dots like this:

Unless you just refilled your colorless blender marker only seconds ago, it doesn't have enough juice to lay down perfect dots each time.

In order to get good dots, you've got to have enough moisture in your brush tip to get in and really push the base marker color away. You need a shiny-wet brush tip.

Remember- subtraction requires more moisture than addition.

But frankly, most of my markers haven't been full and shiny tipped since they left the factory. And I'm usually pushing to get the project finished quickly. Who wants to stop everything just to fill a marker?

Tip-loading for Extra Moist Marker Nib

Tip loading is easy and quick. 

• Uncap both your marker and your Various Ink refill bottle.

• Insert the tip of the brush tip into the opening and gently press to form a seal.

• Move both the bottle and marker around until the bottle is above the marker.

• Letting gravity do the work for us, lift slightly on the bottle. Don't remove the tip completely from the opening, just lift a micro-amount to let the solution flow. You'll see it start to ooze out around and down the sides of the brush tip.

• Adjust the opening as necessary, you want just enough fluid to wet the tip BUT the tip should absorb everything you release. You DO NOT want ink dripping down the sides of the marker. Go slow at first until you're good at this.

• Repeat 2-3 times until the tip looks shiny and moist.

Wait about 30-60 seconds before touching the tip to paper, just enough time to let it sink in a little. You don't want to accidentally leave a big blob of blender on your paper. I usually dab it on the back of my hand or a bit of paper towel once to insure that I didn't overfill the tip.

You can do this with colored ink too, it's usually enough of a boost to get you though the section you were coloring. It's not enough to finish an entire image but it can keep you from interrupting the blending process for a full-blown refill.

Oh and one more thing... 

Yes, I want Beans!

Use the small refill bottle.

Yes, I love the big 200cc bottle dearly but even I'm not brave enough to try tip loading directly from a big bottle.

Whoa. I see disaster looming there.

I use my big bottle to refill my smaller bottle.

I know, I know. It's a pain in the keister to buy both. And I know it feels like absolute idiocy to refill a refill bottle. But I guarantee, you will have a lot more control working with the  25cc bottle than the mongo bottle.

This stuff isn't cheap and there's no way to get it back into the bottle after it has dripped all over your hand, desktop, lap, and all over your little dog too.

Save the tight-rope walking, the base-jumping, and the 200cc tip loading to those who don't mind dying today.

I'll sit over here with the chickens, refiling from the dinky bottle.

Tip-Loading: My secret for perfect Colorless Blender dots 

It's also the closest I ever get to livin' la vida loca.