Copic Sketch Markers

I was recently very bored (once holidays start my workload halves) and was browsing YouTube when I saw this:

      How nice do those words look?!! Brush pen calligraphy suddenly became very interesting. Thinking of all the birthday cards and posters I would be able to flawlessly pull off, I visited a local arts supply shop in Mong Kok. It's a hidden sort of place and it takes you about a minute to find the door if you've never been before, because they plaster it with little drawings and glass deco stickers. Anyways, there wasn't much variety in the brands they sold, the only ones I could find were (obviously) the most expensive ones on the market: copic sketch markers.

      A friend at school had used similar comic-drawing markers on her artwork and I had marvelled at the way the colours looked so vibrant with one sweep of an ink pen. However, I was at first cautious because these do not come cheap! Priced at 38 HKD each, this was going to empty my wallet faster than M&Ms, if I did become addicted.
      And I already am. Look!

This is only my first day with these, bear with me :)

I expected to exit the shop with just one plain black marker, but they had around 10 different shades of black, from cool to neutral to warm to "special black". :O I ended up trying some and trying a few colours too, and absolutely fell in love with the hues. I'll say a little bit about the colours:

1. BG57 Jasper – a calming teal shade that's a bit more on the blue side

2. YG05 Salad – a bright yellow-green colour that reminds me of new leaves

3. N1 Neutral Gray No.1 – this one was the second lightest of the many shades of grey (haha) and carries a tiny hint of purple

4. Y17 Golden yellow – a warm glowing orangey yellow that is reminiscent of sunflowers

5. W10 Warm Gray No. 10 – borderline black, a tiny hint of brown to it instead of the usual dark blue

6. E81 Ivory – A very light beige colour

       I'm quite happy with my colour choices, they went quite well together when I used them on a birthday card. I even changed this blog's title to a hand-lettered banner, using Photoshop to invert a scan of my name written with the W10.

Double-ended: felt tip and hard marker nibs

So overall, 

Pros:

1. Very versatile felt tip nib

2. Nice oval shape, feels good in your hand

3. Claims to be refillable (haven't tried that yet, nor do I know where to buy refills)

4. Amazing range of colours (I'm dying to try other ones!)

Cons:

1. Price

2. Price

3. Price ARRRRGH I spent 228HKD on 6 markers!!!

There you have it. If you are willing to use half a month's allowance on these high quality markers, then go for it! Hopefully the ends justify the means and I'll be producing nice hand-lettered greeting cards. Else... *gulp*

Yours truly,