Are you new to Copic Markers and wondering which colors to purchase first?
When you’re a beginner, selecting a handful of starter markers can be intimidating. There are so many colors! Which is best?
Is this a good green? It’s pretty but will it blend with anything?
Even with an art degree, I made rookie mistakes. Many of the Copics from my first set of 72 are still gathering dust today!
If I could go back in time, I’d focus on useful blending combinations rather than boxed sets and random Copics from the clearance bin. It’s only a bargain if you actually use the marker!
In the spirit of helping you avoid my mistakes, I started to wonder:
Which Green and Yellow-Green Copics are Best for Beginners?
I asked three of my favorite marker instructors about which green and yellow-green markers they recommend for first time colorers.
Which markers offer students the best value?
Which Copic G and YGs are versatile enough to color many different green items?
Which green blending combinations do we teach with?
Which YG and G markers do we use in our own work?
Which G and YG Copics are Best for Beginners?
If you’re new to Copic Markers, we recommend YG03 & YG17 as your starter greens. Add to this combination depending upon your taste. YG67 makes an excellent dark. YG21 adds light. For realism, underpaint with blue or violet.
We don’t recommend G markers for beginners. Skip the Gs to save money.
Let’s talk to four Copic instructors to learn more about Copic their favorite G and YG blending combinations.
“Rosie Gets the Blues” Image from PowerPoppy.com, modified and colored by the author, Amy Shulke. Copic Markers and Prismacolor Colored Pencils on X-Press It Blending Card. Amy’s online class featuring this image teaches the secrets to easy complimentary blending. More info here.
Michelle Houghton’s Favorite Green and Yellow-Green Copics
Note: As of 2024, Michelle is not currently teaching Copic classes. Find Michelle on her Copic in the Craftroom channel at YouTube and at Scrapweaver.com
Before we get to Michelle’s marker recommendations, I’d like to point something out…
Did you notice that this article covers both Green and Yellow-Green markers families?
There’s a reason.
All four Copic instructors in this article agree: We do not use G markers enough to recommend them for beginners.
Especially not when there are so many beautiful and easy-blending Yellow-Greens available!
Michelle explains why:
The G green Copic family regularly gets passed over for the yellow greens at my desk.
I think it has to do with WHAT I am coloring. Often, I’m coloring areas of foliage, leaves, grass, trees, etc. When I look at green objects in nature, they tend to lean toward the yellow side of the green family, so naturally, I reach for my YG markers.
I may use a G marker to cool the color of a leaf in cast shadow or for plants which lean into the blues like the needles on evergreen trees.
But more often than not, when I reach for a G Copic it’s for clothing or accessories, something that could just as easily be colored red or blue. In these cases, I’m choosing to color them green because I feel guilty for not using my G markers more often.
This is why you’ll see a strong theme repeated by each instructor here today.
Independently, we all find ourselves using YG markers far more than Gs.
So now that we’ve discussed what we don’t use, let’s get to the recommendations.
Michelle recommends YG01-YG03-YG63 for beginners.
As someone who teaches realistic coloring classes, I love Michelle’s YG combination even though I’ve never tried it before.
My reasoning is this:
YG01 is a lovely pale green with a strong feeling of sunshine to it.
YG03 is the easiest blending marker in the entire Copic collection. This marker is perfect for beginners because it literally blends with anything— I’ve even blended YG03 with Black 110 before!
And YG63 is one of my go-to green markers for realism. It has a gentle murkiness to it which perfectly captures the look of chartreuse in the shade.
I followed up with Michelle, to ask if she could also give you a good G combination— just in case someone reading this already owns a few Gs.
Michelle says:
“I don’t often reach for the G’s but when I do it is either G21-G24-G17 or G40-G43-G46”
Notice how Michelle jumps from the G-Twenties to G17? That’s particularly interesting to me. I’ll have more thoughts on this in my recommendation section below.
In the meantime, be sure to watch Michelle’s Copic in the Craftroom videos at YouTube. She has a ton of G and YG demos and tips for you. I’m only linking here to half of what she has available! Michelle is a valuable resource you simply can not miss.
Michelle’s YG info:
Michelle’s G info:
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Michelle is an elementary school teacher (BS Fine Arts, MA Education) with over 20 years of paper-crafting experience. She’s is a former Copic Certification Regional Instructor for Imagination International. Michelle runs the Copic in the Craftroom website and YouTube channel. Her Copic College events are favorites with Copic fans at all levels.. Visit her at Scrapweaver.com.
WE ASKED YOU!
Half of Vanilla Arts readers say YG67-YG17-YG03-YG01 is their favorite green blending combination.
And here’s where there may be a bit of bias showing…
Most Vanilla Arts readers are also Vanilla Arts students and I teach with these greens.
But for people to overwhelmingly cite this as their favorite and to use it in their personal work? It’s a sign that this combination not only blends easily but also looks great!
Cordine van der Touw’s Beginner Yellow-green Blend
See Cordine’s latest projects on her Facebook page here. You can also find her at Copic Marker Europe and Cordine’s latest classes for Copics at Colourstock.
Cordine recommends YG67-YG17-YG03 for your first green blending combination.
Cordine says:
I love the Vanilla combination of YG67-YG17-YG03, colored dark to light. I frequently underpaint it with B34.
This combination is easy to change around. I can go darker if I underpaint with B34 or go lighter if I leave the YG67 out of the combination.
What’s interesting is that Cordine’s tulips here use my Vanilla-student green combination and yet I didn’t recognize it!
This is because every colorer changes the look of a blending combination based upon their unique coloring instincts.
Cordine used the darker markers sparingly which makes her leaves look sunkissed and lightweight.
Compare Cordine’s leaves to the color swatch behind her photograph. I colored the swatch! We used the same markers and yet they look totally different!
I color like me and Cordine colors like Cordine. We’re different people and our coloring looks different too.
That’s actually a great beginner tip: Don’t feel bad when you faithfully follow a marker recipe but get different results. Everyone creates a distinctive look because we all use the colors in unique ratios. As long as it looks good, it doesn’t have to match the original sample!
And what about G markers?
When I asked Cordine for her favorite G combination, she quickly responded, “Nope, I pass on this color”.
Keep reading because Elena can help explain why we’re all less than enthusiastic about Copic’s G Markers.
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Cordine is an office manager in The Netherlands. She’s an avid paper crafter who loves card making, scrapbooking, and coloring stamps with Copic and colored pencils. She has taught Copic since 2013 for Colourstock as the Benelux region representative (Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg). Contact Cordine here.
Elena Cazares’ Favorite YG Copic Blend
Elena recommends B34-YG17-YG03-YG00 for beginners. She colors them dark to light.
For Elena’s combination (as with all underpainting combinations) you must cover the blue completely with the YG17 to create the look of dark green.
Why does Elena love this B to YG combination so much?
This combo blends beautifully and it’s my safe haven. When I challenge myself on the flower petals or other hard parts of an image, I always fall back on this easy-blend recipe because I know it will work.
It’s a safe green but it’s definitely not plain looking!
The blue provides lots of shadiness to the darker end but YG03 and YG00 are bright and happy. This gives you lots of value range and makes your leaves very dimensional.
Plus, YG03 is just an amazing blender. Every marker blends when YG03 is there to make them play nice!
And what about a G marker recommendation?
I love to color botanicals and the G family doesn’t give me the natural, organic feel I want. So I really don’t have a G combination to recommend.
The G greens all have blue hints, especially the lightest ones. G colored leaves just don’t look right to me. They give off a mint feeling which I really don’t like. I want my flowers to be warm and full of life!
I will use Gs if I can’t avoid it, like for a class or in a demonstration but I don’t get excited about them. I bought almost all the G markers at once and was really disappointed with the way they looked. I thought I was getting a bargain but I just don’t use them a lot. I could have saved the money and bought better paper or coloring classes sooner!
Amy Shulke’s Favorite YG and G Blending Combinations
Hey, that’s me! You can find me here at MarkerNovice.com or at my artistic coloring site, VanillaArts.com.
So let’s get this out of the way right now. In some of my “Best Beginner Blend” articles, the four instructors here often disagree. Sometimes we disagree as a matter of taste, sometimes we’re simply recommending what we’re used to teaching with.
But today, we’re ALL in complete agreement. Beginners can skip the G family of markers.
In fact, we basically skipped a G article today. The Greens are so unnecessary that we couldn’t even give them their own spotlight.
I do not recommend G Copics for beginners because the Green family are harder to blend.
Ease of blending is incredibly important in my classes!
I only teach the blending process in a few beginner classes. After that, my workshops focus on more important things like underpainting, color sculpting for realism, casting shadows, and developing your artistic voice.
We don’t have time to waste on blending technique so I’m never going to tell students to drag out stubborn markers which misbehave or make them want to cry.
Besides, even if you do blend G markers well, they’ll still look weird and artificial. So all that work, for no payoff? No thanks!
If you didn’t catch the hint from Cordine and Elena above…
I teach beginner classes with YG17 and YG03. We underpaint them with either B34 or B23.
My personal favorite YG combination is BG05-YG17-Y03.
And if I’m shooting for realism, I use BV23-YG17-YG03.
See how I’m using the same two YG markers and changing the underpaint based on the situation? That’s versatility!
Plus, YG17-YG03 blends like a dream. You can blend it in your sleep.
You can see BG05-YG17-YG03 at work in my rose project here. A lot of folks assume I used green markers but that’s the magic of underpainting! I can shift the temperature of YG markers to create the look of a G marker without the notorious G behavioral issues.
Behavior issues?
More about green Copic behavior issues in the next section down but for now, understand that Gs are not beginner friendly. This makes it really hard for me to recommend a G blending combination today.
But if you’re going to push me— on a personal level, I’m very drawn to G24. The color indicator on the G24 cap is enticing, it’s my ideal greeny-green. “Willow” is a beautiful color and probably the most organic G marker Copic makes.
The problem is that there’s no one for G24 to play with. Normally we’d combine G24 with other markers from the G-Twenty family but G24 sits in-between two evil stepsisters. G28 refuses to blend with anyone and G21 has so much solvent in the mixture that it erases almost any color it touches.
So I can’t recommend G24 but I do want to try Michelle’s G21-G24-G17 combination. Maybe that’s the trick? I don’t know.
Like Michelle, I also use the G-Forty family but I add violet. I’ve taught with the G-Forties but they make a stylized green, not a realistic one.
And I’m very glad Michelle was so honest earlier about Green Guilt. I’ve felt the same thing. I don’t use G markers very often but I know my students want to learn how to use every Copic color. So when you see me using G, it’s usually because I’m catering to students, not because I like G markers.
If I have to recommend a G Copic combination, try V20-G46-G43-G40… but honestly, I’d skip it and purchase more YGs instead.
Do beginners need to underpaint green?
Not really.
If you’ve never drawn, painted, or used Copics before… well, there’s a lot to learn about Copics before you’re not a beginner anymore.
So concentrate on learning to blend before worrying about how to underpaint.
But once you’re blending well?
Yellow-Green is the easiest of all the Copic families to underpaint.
This is why I teach beginners to underpaint YG from the start. It’s the perfect introduction to underpainting because friendly markers like YG03 make the process so forgiving.
And once you learn to underpaint YGs, you can translate the technique to the other less-friendly color families.
But here’s the other reason why I encourage you to eventually add underpaint: Copic does not make many markers in realistic shade colors.
Real shade is not darker, real shade is murky.
Copic specializes in bold and bright colors, so when it comes time to color realistic shade and shadow with Copic, you have to mix correct shading colors yourself.
Underpainting is how we create new Copic colors.
Underpainting makes realistic coloring much easier.
Give underpainting a try with the YG family. They’re the easiest way to start.
Can you mix Copic G and YG markers together?
Absolutely!
You can blend any Copic marker with any other Copic marker.
Yes, some markers blend together more easily and some blends are definitely prettier than others…
But all Copics can blend with each other.
Why are green Copics stubborn?
G Copics have a few behavioral quirks. They’re stubborn blenders.
We actually call G28 “Satan’s Spit” because this marker doesn’t want to play nice with anyone.
(Make G28 your last green marker purchase. Use G29 instead.)
As a beginner, you may think of Copics as one kind of marker which comes in many colors…
But that’s not how it works.
Every Copic color uses a different ink formula. Each ink has unique behaviors and characteristics.
Copics are more like 358 people who all happen to find themselves in the same pizzeria on a Friday night. They all like pizza but the similarities end there.
The G family relies on several green inks which all have the nasty habit of staining the paper.
G ink is a “staining ink”; it soaks into the heart of the paper fibers and it doesn’t want to budge. This makes blending a challenge for beginners and frankly for advanced colorers who aren’t paying attention.
Staining inks make your blends look unsmooth or “choppy” but they also cause other issues:
Over-inking & oily patches
Shattering
When a green ink stains the paper, it requires more coats of blending ink to smooth the blend. Because you’re using more ink to blend, you run the risk of soaking the paper to the point where the paper can’t physically absorb more ink. When you over-ink, your coloring looks blotchy and oily.
Shattering is when you hit a medium or dark color with so much blending ink that the dark colorant starts to break apart into its simple ingredients. Green ink is a mixture of blue and yellow ink, so when green shatters, you’ll see blotches of yellow or blue and sometimes even pink, usually around the edges of a heavily blended area.
Yellow-Green ink is different. YG is a combination of green ink plus yellow ink. Yellow is the easiest-to-blend ink Copic makes. YG is a tame domesticated version of the ferocious green tiger.
This is why I use YG markers in beginner classes. The yellow ingredients make your life easier.
Why do light green Copics look a bit blue?
In the last section, I talked about G ink being a mixture of blue and yellow inks. I also said YG ink is G plus extra yellow ink.
The amount of yellow in the ink recipe determines whether the green is warm or cool.
More yellow = warm green
Less yellow = cool green
The entire G family is a cool green. They have more blue colorant than yellow.
Now here’s where artistic chemistry comes into play.
The lightest markers in every family end in zero. That zero indicates that the ink inside the marker has been diluted with a lot of solvent. Solvent basically “waters down” (dilutes) the color until it looks pale to you when applied to paper.
Less solvent = dark color
More solvent = pale color
Now remember when I said G was a mixture of blue plus yellow?
And you recall me saying that Y was the friendliest, easiest to blend of all the Copic inks?
And think back to when I said G can shatter if flooded with too much solvent?
At the factory, they add large amounts of solvent to G ink to make markers like G0000, G000, G00, G12, G21, or G40— they hyper-dilute the color to the point where the ink mixture is barely stable. It wants to shatter. The yellow is hanging on with all it’s might but there’s just soooooo much solvent. Often the yellow just slowly fades away…
Which leaves you with blue being the most visible color on the paper.
Pale G markers look bluish because the yellow has died.
So there you go,
The Best Green and Yellow-Green Copic Blending Combinations
If you’re new to Copic Markers, we highly recommend YG03 and YG17 as your starter greens. Frankly, I think you can use them for a lifetime.
What you add to this combination is entirely up to you. YG67 makes an excellent dark. YG21 or YG00 can add light. Or try underpainting with B34, BG05, or BV23… it’s really up to you!
Amy Shulke is a professional illustrator who has used Copic Markers since 1990. She teaches artistic coloring classes online at VanillaArts.com and locally in mid-Michigan.
Marker Novice is Amy’s completely free resource devoted to beginner marker education. For intermediate/advanced artistic coloring articles, see her Studio Journal here.
Marker Testing: Colors Mentioned Above
NOT RECOMMENDED - READ WHY
My love is like a red, red Copic…
Join Amy for a fun artistic coloring lesson in the Vanilla Workshop
Rosie Gets the Blues - Copic Marker + Prismacolor Colored Pencil
This Marker Painting Workshop was recorded live and demonstrated in real-time with no speed coloring or edits. Edited classes with perfect narration tend to make the coloring process look faster, easier, and smoother than it really is. Stop comparing yourself to the supermodel version of an artist!
Real time coloring with real mistakes and real fixes.
Class Printable Pack Includes:
Class syllabus with detailed recipe guide
Full color project sample
Guide to Copic base
Detailed color map
Project inspiration references
