Copic Markers - Testing Papers

I thought today might be a good day to talk about Copic markers and papers.  The picture above is of the Art Journal I've made for myself.  For the pages I decided to use Neenah cover stock because that's what I prefer to use with my Copic markers. It's a smooth finish 80 lb. 216 gsm weight.  Paula talked about paper weights in this Operation Write Home post here so I won't get into that because I think she explained it very well.

Here's a close up of the left side of the page.  I used one Copic marker and the colorless blender to do the effects.  You can see in the close up that I don't have any bleeding outside the lines and a pretty smooth blend where the green fades to white on the C and I.  I'm not an expert at the technique yet but there's hope for me that one day I might be. 

I have another close up of the right side of my art journal.  Hopefully you can see the nice blending transition from one color to another here.  The hard lines of demarcation have disappeared into a nice blend.

 

Next I have colored with two Copic markers using a sheet of marker paper.  On the cover of the pad it says "works beautifully with pen or pencil & alcohol and solvent markers won't bleed through".  Hmmm, I'm not sure what they mean by "beautifully".  

In my test the Copic marker did bleed through to the back, that's not a bad thing though.  I thought the blending of the two different inks on this paper was interesting.  The first C I colored was the last C in Copic, kind of a neat effect.  As I kept coloring letters though I had a hard time not getting streaks and my ink just didn't blend well.

Can you see under the "P" where the ink bled out from the line?  I did try to clean that up with the colorless blender a couple of times but that's the best I could do.

Here's the marker pad with my colored piece, as you can see it's pretty thin. I didn't think it was a good investment of my $14.99.  I have a friend who draws Anime, I hope he can use it!

Moving on to my next sample using Hobby Lobby's The Paper Studio cardstock.  It's an okay blend but can you see on the right side at the loop on the "C" where the ink bled outside of the lines?  I tried to clean that up with my colorless blender three times and figured that was as good as it gets.  

Here's a look at the reverse side of this "cardstock" and also my scratch paper that was under it when I colored.  The packaging on the paper calls it cardstock but doesn't give a weight or gsm on the label, the package is also wrapped in plastic so the buyer has no way of knowing how heavy or light weight it really is until after the purchase.  

Above is my finished piece with the package of cardstock it's on.

I didn't try blending any more than two Copic marker colors on the second two papers.  When I color I generally blend 3 to 5 markers to get a good gradation in shading.  I don't believe these papers/cardstock would be suitable for that.  My ink was bleeding out of the lines using only two colors.

I also found one last quarter sheet of X-Press It blending card a friend sent to me and used it for today's testing.

This is a wonderful paper/cardstock to color on, the ink just kind of melts together for you. The only flaw I can see with X-Press It is all the tiny white spots in my colored image.  You may not be able to see them until you click on the photo and make it larger, but they are there.  Every piece of this cardstock I colored on did this and I'm not sure why.  I was disappointed with the end result because of the white spotting.  It's an expensive choice for Copic paper and even more expensive if you buy it and don't/can't use it. 

There's my experience with four different papers using Copic markers.  Do you have a favorite paper/cardstock for Copic markers?  I'd love to know what you've found that you like to use.

Living in such a small town most of my craft supplies including paper/cardstock are ordered on line and shipped.  We do have a Hobby Lobby and Michaels 45 miles away in Lake Havasu City, does anyone buy their paper/cardstock for Copic markers at these stores, if so what works for you?

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