Explaining the 12 Colors
in the Color Wheel

How do the colors on the wheel correlate with Copic markers?

The common color wheel has 12 colors on it: 6 warm colors (as seen on the right) and 6 cool colors (as seen on the left) side of the wheel below.

*You can go to our line art gallery and print out this sheet at home on marker paper to practice and keep as a reference!

Warm colors are identified with--you guessed it--a feeling of warmth and energy. For example, the colors associated with fire are red, orange, and yellow, as seen in the illustration below.

Fire photo reference: Jess Loiterton. Pexels.com (royalty-free image source).

Cool colors, on the other hand, are identified with a feeling of being calm and fresh. For example, when you go to the beach, it’s easy to relax with the cool breeze, blue sky and blue-green ocean in front of us!

Sea and Sky photo reference found on Pixabay.com, a royalty-free image source.
No artist name appeared when this image was downloaded.

Next, let’s take a closer look at how the 12 colors on the wheel relate directly with Copic markers! Below is a chart that shows how many marker colors are included in each color category. As you can see, some colors, like Blue-Violet, don’t have nearly as many colors as Blue. This is most likely due to the chemical components and different dyes it takes to mix the alcohol inks together in order to create these Blue-Violet markers.

Notice how, in the chart above, there are X’s under the YO and RO colors. In the color wheel I shared in the previous blog, I mentioned that Copic doesn’t have YO and RO-specific color categories. Instead, those yellow-orange and red-orange colors are included under the red (R) and yellow-red (YR) families. Below are some examples of Copic marker colors that fall under the categories of yellow, yellow-orange, orange (or YR in Copic terms), red-orange, and red.

Now that you know more about the standard color wheel, the differences between warm and cool colors, and how the wheel compares to Copic, you’ll have an easier time picking out markers to expand your collection!

In the next blog, we’ll be taking a more in-depth look at the warm and cool colors. Understanding how these colors interact with each other and the different ways they can be grouped together will help you create more cohesive and beautiful art! Stay tuned!