E39 Leather is a warm brown Copic Marker which closely resembles a warmer Burnt Umber watercolor. An easy blending, organic, all purpose brown. A recommended best buy for beginners. E39 is only available in Copic Sketch 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.
E39 Leather
Let’s take a closer look at this Copic Marker and its ink characteristics.
Temperature: A warm brown.
Resemblance: Burnt Umber watercolor
Actual Value: N7
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 on a Sketch marker is darker than 5 coats of E39 ink. Beware, this marker is a lot lighter than you’d expect from the cap indicator.
Buildup: E39 starts to look oily on the second layer and never really smooths out until 5 coats at which point the color is excessively dark. It builds to maximum value at 5 layers.
Shattering: Does not shatter.
Chromatography testing shows this ink’s behavior when it comes in contact with #0 Colorless Blender (solvent). High shattering colors may leak unexpected color 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: Stains the paper light brown.
Lift: This color does not lift much (which is not surprising from the darkest marker in any Copic number group).
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: We observed very minor fading during the test period.
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: E39 is in the darkest of the E-Thirty family. This family of browns feel warmer as the color gets darker.
Family Members: E30, E31, E33. E34, E35, E37, and E39
We include this information because many Copic users never think deeper than the letter groupings (R, BV, G, etc.). Every ink has its own temperature variations and underlying flavors. Understanding what an ink looks like in its different dilutions helps when creating your own blending combinations.
Complement: Brown is not a hue on the color wheel and does not have a complement.
Underpaint: BV02 neutralizes this color well.
This is simply one suggestion. Many possible colors exist. Test to find a color that pleases you.
Pushing Pencil: Prismacolor 1076 90% French Grey pushes this color nicely.
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 E39:
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.
Chocolate Box: Amy shows you how to create darker colors than Copic makes, essential to creating realistic deep dark areas. Find more info here.
Vanilla Arts Digi Stamps using E39:
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 digi stamps.
Color palettes and swatches using E39:
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)
