BV31 Pale Lavender: Copics Uncapped (Marker Swatch, Ink Testing)

BV31 is a bluish-violet Copic Marker which mimics Cobalt Blue-Violet watercolor. This is an excellent underpainting and a natural violet for realistic botanicals and portraiture. BV31 is available in Copic Sketch, Ciao, and Classic marker styles.

Every Copic Marker has unique characteristics based on its unique ink formula.

Knowing how a color behaves will help you blend effectively and make art with confidence.

BV31 Pale Lavender

Let’s take a closer look at this Copic Marker and it’s ink characteristics.

Temperature: A bluish-violet

Resemblance: BV31 mimics diluted Cobalt Blue-Violet watercolor

Actual Value: N2.5

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the cap is supposed to indicate value but we’ve found discrepancies where the actual ink value is different than cap designation.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic end of a Sketch Marker is slightly lighter and bluer than one coat of BV31 ink.

Buildup: BV31 reaches full color at 3 layers but starts to create oily patches on the second layer.

Shattering: BV31 shatters into violet with light aqua leakage around the edges.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected colors when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: BV31 stains the paper blue

Lift: BV31 lifts a bit because it’s a pale color but you can tell where it was.

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: BV31 showed a minimal amount of fade; we would expect further significant fading with extended testing times.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original Copic art under these conditions.

Natural Ink Family: BV31 is the light end of the very small BV-Thirty family. At Vanilla Arts, we use this marker family a lot and we’d love to see Copic expand the family to the dark end.

Family Members BV31 and BV34

We include this information because many Copic users never think deeper than the letter groupings (R, BV, G, etc.). Every ink has it’s own temperature variations and underlying flavors. Understanding what an ink looks like in its different dilutions helps when creating your own blending combinations.

Complement: A gold green. Try YR01 or YR21

Underpaint: We suggest W1 underneath BV31.

This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Pushing Pencil: We suggest Prismacolor 1063 50% Cool Grey with an incredibly light pressure over BV31.

VanillaArts.com (our sister site) teaches a Push & Pull technique for dimensional coloring. This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Vanilla Arts Classes using BV31:

Tree Frog: Join Amy for a challenging lesson on rebel blending that blends green into yellow into violet into pink into white. Find more info here.

Vanilla Arts Digi Stamps using BV31:

Color palettes and swatches using BV31:

Looking for beautiful color palettes?

We absolutely love The Color Catalog 1 & 2 from Sarah Renae Clark. It puts hundreds of Copic friendly color palettes at your fingertips.

(note: affiliate link)

BV23 Grayish Lavender: Copics Uncapped (Marker Swatch, Ink Testing)

BV23 is a cool grayed-violet Copic Marker which resembles Payne’s Gray watercolor. This is an excellent underpaint and an artistic surprise substitution for standard grays. BV23 is available in Copic Sketch, Ciao, and Classic marker styles.

Every Copic Marker has unique characteristics based on its unique ink formula.

Knowing how a color behaves will help you blend effectively and make art with confidence.

BV23 Grayish Lavender

Let’s take a closer look at this Copic Marker and it’s ink characteristics.

Temperature: A cool grayed-violet

Resemblance: BV23 resembles some of the more violet versions of Payne’s Gray watercolor.

Actual Value: N5

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the cap is supposed to indicate value but we’ve found discrepancies where the actual ink value is different than cap designation.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic end of a Sketch Marker is a close match to the color of 1 coat of BV23 ink, but the cap is more gray while the ink has a pronounced violet feel.

Buildup: BV23 starts to create oily patches on the first layer. Exercise caution when layering this color. Color reaches maximum value at 3 layers.

Shattering: BV23 shatters into gray with pale aqua and violet leakage around the edges.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected colors when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: BV23 stains the paper blue

Lift: BV23 does not lift much.

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: BV23 showed a minimal amount of fade; we would expect further significant fading with extended testing times.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original Copic art under these conditions.

Natural Ink Family: BV23 at the middle of the of the BV-Twenty family. At Vanilla Arts, we use this marker family constantly and highly encourage intermediate to advanced students to work this marker family into their routine.

Family Members BV20, BV23, BV25, BV29

We include this information because many Copic users never think deeper than the letter groupings (R, BV, G, etc.). Every ink has it’s own temperature variations and underlying flavors. Understanding what an ink looks like in its different dilutions helps when creating your own blending combinations.

Complement: A pale muted yellow contrasts nicely. Try Y11 or Y32

Underpaint: We suggest W3 underneath BV23.

This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Pushing Pencil: We suggest Prismacolor 1067 90% Cool Grey with an incredibly light pressure over BV23.

VanillaArts.com (our sister site) teaches a Push & Pull technique for dimensional coloring. This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Vanilla Arts Classes using BV23:

Box of Colors (Marker Painting Foundations 2) is a four episode Copic + Colored Pencil challenge for graduates of MPF. Covers color theory and form sculpting with group feedback. For more information: Box of Colors.

Vanilla Arts Digi Stamps using BV23:

Color palettes and swatches using BV23:

Looking for beautiful color palettes?

We absolutely love The Color Catalog 1 & 2 from Sarah Renae Clark. It puts hundreds of Copic friendly color palettes at your fingertips.

(note: affiliate link)

BV04 Blue Berry: Copics Uncapped (Marker Swatch, Ink Testing)

BV04 Blue Berry is a cool blue-based violet Copic Marker which resembles Cobalt Violet watercolor. This is a great starter marker, useful for underpainting, florals, and general coloring. BV04 is available in Copic Sketch, Ciao, and Classic marker styles.

Every Copic Marker has unique characteristics based on its unique ink formula.

Knowing how a color behaves will help you blend effectively and make art with confidence.

BV04 Blue Berry

Let’s take a closer look at this Copic Marker and it’s ink characteristics.

Temperature: A cool blue based violet

Resemblance: Blue Berry resembles Cobalt Violet watercolor.

Actual Value: N7. Please note how wrong the value is on this marker. It claims to be 4 and is actually a 7.

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the cap is supposed to indicate value but we’ve found discrepancies where the actual ink value is different than cap designation.

Cap Accuracy: The plastic end of a Sketch Marker is a good match to the color of 1 coat of BV04 ink.

Buildup: BV02 starts to create oily patches on the second layer. Exercise caution when layering this color.

Shattering: BV04 shatters into blue with pale pink leakage around the edges. This shattering is also visible in the staining test results.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected colors when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: BV04 stains the paper blue

Lift: BV04 does not lift much. When we tried, the sample shattered. Exercise caution trying to move this color with solvent because you’ll get odd pink leakage on the margins of the fix.

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: BV04 showed a minimal amount of fade; we would expect further significant fading with extended testing times.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original Copic art under these conditions.

Natural Ink Family: BV04 is in the middle of the of the BV-Zero family, even though there is only one marker darker. This family is very deceiving because the sub zero markers are lighter than expected while those above zero are darker than expected.

Family Members BV08, BV04, BV02, BV01, BV00, BV000, BV0000

We include this information because many Copic users never think deeper than the letter groupings (R, BV, G, etc.). Every ink has it’s own temperature variations and underlying flavors. Understanding what an ink looks like in its different dilutions helps when creating your own blending combinations.

Complement: A middle yellow contrasts nicely. Try Y06

Underpaint: We suggest W5 underneath BV04

This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Pushing Pencil: We suggest Prismacolor 109 Prussian Green with a very light pressure over BV04.

VanillaArts.com (our sister site) teaches a Push & Pull technique for dimensional coloring. This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Vanilla Arts Classes using BV04:

Jellybeans: Amy shows you the roadmap to reading the form of an object; adding realism by interpreting photo references. Find more info here.

Ink Frog: A lesson on alternative blending methods & creating warm characters. Find more info here.

Vanilla Arts Digi Stamps using BV04:

We continue to create new content and stamps and we will update here as more become available.

Visit the stamp shop page at our sister site VanillaArts.com for a wide variety of Vanilla Arts stamps.

Color palettes and swatches using BV04:

We are building our palette and swatch collection a little more each week and will update here as more become available.

Visit the color resource page at our sister site VanillaArts.com for a wide variety of Copic palettes and swatches.

Looking for beautiful color palettes?

We absolutely love The Color Catalog 1 & 2 from Sarah Renae Clark. It puts hundreds of Copic friendly color palettes at your fingertips.

(note: affiliate link)

BV00 Mauve Shadow: Copics Uncapped (Marker Swatch, Ink Testing)

BV00 Mauve Shadow is a diluted blue-based violet Copic Marker reminiscent of Cobalt Violet watercolor. This is a great starter marker, useful for backgrounds, florals, and general coloring. BV00 is available in Copic Sketch, Ciao, and Classic marker styles.

Every Copic Marker has unique characteristics based on its unique ink formula.

Knowing how a color behaves will help you blend effectively and make art with confidence.

BV00 Mauve Shadow

Let’s take a closer look at this Copic Marker and it’s ink characteristics.

Please note: This marker ink is very close to non-photo blue and does not photograph or scan accurately. The swatch above shows the actual shatter and staining tests but the other samples have been digitally altered to better reflect the colors we see in the real life sample.

Temperature: A cool blue based purple

Resemblance: Mauve Shadow resembles diluted Cobalt Violet watercolor.

Actual Value: N2.5. Please note how wrong the value is on this marker. It claims to be sub zero and is actually more of a match to N2 or N3.

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the cap is supposed to indicate value but we’ve found discrepancies where the actual ink value is different than cap designation.

Cap Accuracy: Close. The plastic end of a Sketch Marker matches the color of 2 coats of BV00 ink.

Buildup: Despite not its low colorant levels, BV00 started to create oily patches on the second layer. This was surprising. However, by layer three, the oily color was much smoother and looks fairly pleasing.

Shattering: BV00 does not shatter, at least not that we were able to see.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected colors when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: This is a slight bit of paper staining but we think this might disappear with further applications of colorless blender.

Lift: BV00 lifts very easily/

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: Not lightfast. The fade was severe (at least 60%) and turned oddly pink.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original Copic art under these conditions.

Natural Ink Family: BV00 is at the low end of the BV-Zero family. Be careful because 00, 000, and even 0000 are darker than expected.

Family Members BV08, BV04, BV02, BV01, BV00, BV000, BV0000

We include this information because many Copic users never think deeper than the letter groupings (R, BV, G, etc.). Every ink has it’s own temperature variations and underlying flavors. Understanding what an ink looks like in its different dilutions helps when creating your own blending combinations.

Complement: A warm pale green like YG11 would work well.

Underpaint: We suggest W1 underneath BV00.

This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Pushing Pencil: We suggest Prismacolor 1007 Imperial Violet with a very light pressure over BV00.

VanillaArts.com (our sister site) teaches a Push & Pull technique for dimensional coloring. This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Vanilla Arts Classes using BV00:

Vanilla Arts Digi Stamps using BV00:

We continue to create new content and stamps and we will update here as more become available.

Visit the stamp shop page at our sister site VanillaArts.com for a wide variety of Copic classes.

Color palettes and swatches using BV00:

Looking for beautiful color palettes?

We absolutely love The Color Catalog 1 & 2 from Sarah Renae Clark. It puts hundreds of Copic friendly color palettes at your fingertips.

(note: affiliate link)

BV08 Blue Violet: Copics Uncapped (Marker Swatch, Ink Testing)

BV08 Blue Violet is a cool, blue-based deep purple Copic Marker reminiscent of Shadow Violet watercolor. This intense marker color is useful for night skies, shady niches, or concord grapes on the vine. BV08 is available in Copic Sketch, Ciao, and Classic marker styles.

Every Copic Marker has unique characteristics based on its unique ink formula.

Knowing how a color behaves will help you blend effectively and make art with confidence.

BV08 Blue Violet

Let’s take a closer look at this Copic Marker and it’s ink characteristics.

Temperature: A cool purple

Resemblance: Blue Violet strongly resembles a Shadow Violet watercolor pigment mixture.

Actual Value: N9

All Copics are measured on a Neutral Gray value scale. The last number on the cap is supposed to indicate value but we’ve found discrepancies where the actual ink value is different than cap designation.

Cap Accuracy: No. The plastic end of a Sketch Marker DOES NOT match the actual ink color. The cap is significantly darker than the ink.

Buildup: BV08 is highly pigmented and layers build quickly to an oversaturated look. By layer #3 the color was overly dark and oily. We do not recommend heavy applications.

Shattering: Leaks strong streaks of magenta. This effect would be noticeable when making corrections with a #0 marker.

Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected colors when you make corrections or attempt to blend with any color that has a high solvent to colorant ratio. Shattering is not bad, it’s just something to be aware of.

Staining: This is a staining color that resists correction or lifting and may be stubborn during blending.

Lift: Minimal

See staining swatch. Sample was given 6 stripes of #0 Colorless Blender, drying between each stripe. Results indicate how much lifting you can expect.

Lightfast: Not lightfast. Moderate fade was obvious.

Samples were swatched on X-Press It Blending Card. 1 layer of ink was exposed to windowsill sunlight for 21 days. Approximately 10 hours of sun per day based on weather conditions. Note: we do not recommend displaying original Copic art under these conditions.

Natural Ink Family: BV08 is a slight dilution of BV09 (which Copic does not sell). BV09 would be a violet deep enough to look almost black. At the opposite end, BV0000 has been denatured enough to seem cool white.

Family Members BV08, BV04, BV02, BV01, BV00, BV000, BV0000

We include this information because many Copic users never think deeper than the letter groupings (R, BV, G, etc.). Every ink has it’s own temperature variations and underlying flavors. Understanding what an ink looks like in its different dilutions helps when creating your own blending combinations.

Complement: Gold Green, in the YG or chartreuse family. Copic does not currently produce a direct complement in this color.

Underpaint: We suggest B99 to deepen BV08

This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Pushing Pencil: We suggest Prismacolor 1067 90% Cool Grey.

VanillaArts.com (our sister site) teaches a Push & Pull technique for dimensional coloring. This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.

Vanilla Arts Classes using BV08:

Complementary Pears: Learn to color smart, create focal points to give your coloring projects the professional look! Find more info here.

Cup of Columbine: Explore form and shape and an introduction to neutral palettes. Includes a discussion on depth for three dimensional forms. Find more info here.

Vanilla Arts Digi Stamps using BV08:

We continue to create new content and stamps and we will update here as more become available.

Visit the stamp shop page at our sister site VanillaArts.com for a wide variety of Vanilla Arts stamps.

Color palettes and swatches using BV08:

Looking for beautiful color palettes?

We absolutely love The Color Catalog 1 & 2 from Sarah Renae Clark. It puts hundreds of Copic friendly color palettes at your fingertips.

(note: affiliate link)