Watercolours versus Copics

This post reflects my own personal experiences and preferences. It's not meant as a "must" for anyone, just as a possible guideline you may or may not use for your purposes.

Please do refrain from giving me advice in your comments, as I find them tiresome, thank you very much!

Watercolours versus Copic Markers

Watercolours pros:
Brilliant, gemlike and yet delicate colours.
Lots of mixing possibilities with only 12 colours.
Even the most expensive and best brands last for AGES if you buy them in tubes or big pans.
You can either paint very delicate and transparent layers or use strong hues.
Watercolour paintings just have a very special kind of magic about them.

Watercolours cons:
You need LOTS of practice to achieve the results you expect.
You need good (expensive) brushes to get satisfying results.
You need water and a stable underground to work on and you need to be patient – watery colours just require time to dry.
You need special (expensive) and thick watercolour paper.
Watercolours don’t scan well. The difference between the original and the scanned version is quite huge and the digital version never looks as good as the real thing.

Copics pros:
Brilliant and strong colours.
Easy to apply.
You can work in layers.
You can carry them with you and work with them anywhere.
They scan well and look good in the digital version.

Copic cons:
You need special marker paper (although it is possible to work on normal sheets, but your work will look a lot better on marker paper).
VERY expensive, and you’ll need to get quite a lot of them if you want to achieve satisfying results.
They fade in daylight, which means you need to cover them up. (And they will yet fade quite soon).
It’s hard to work with the dark tones, they always seem too strong and too dark to me. You never can achieve the beautiful reds you are able to create with watercolours.

Some artists achieve amazing results with Copics and they are without doubt the best markers I’ve ever worked with. But given the choice, I’d still prefer to work with watercolours. They are simply “my” very special medium. ☺