The ink in my Copic marker dried up mid-commission and I had to scramble

I was working on a colored illustration for a client last Tuesday and my go-to warm gray marker just stopped flowing halfway through shading a face. I tried refilling it but the nib was so clogged it wouldn't take the ink, so I had to drive 20 minutes to the only art store open and hope they had the same color in stock. Has anyone else had a marker fail at the worst possible time and found a good way to prevent it from happening again?

4 comments

4 Comments

nora_webb5114d agoMost Upvoted

oh man, that is the absolute worst timing. i had a similar thing happen with a cool gray marker right in the middle of doing some highlights on a pet portrait once. now i always keep a backup of my most used colors in my bag just in case, and i try to clean my nibs with a little rubbing alcohol if they start acting slow.

tessap9713d ago

The backup system is just one of those things you learn the hard way in every hobby, like always having an extra charger for your phone or a spare tire in the car. @nora_webb51, the rubbing alcohol trick is a lifesaver though, I do the same thing with my fineliners when they start acting up.

robin89613d ago

Swear to god, I've had that happen with a warm grey mid-shading and I almost threw the whole sketchbook out the window lol. Now I've got backups of my cool greys and any brown tones I use for fur, but I still forget to check my bag before heading out sometimes. The rubbing alcohol tip is solid though, I use a tiny bit on a q-tip for the nibs if they start getting crusty. One thing that helped me too is keeping a little spray bottle of water to mist the paper if it's a dry day, since that seems to mess with how the ink flows. Also, if you're really panicked mid-portrait, sometimes just switching to a slightly different shade and blending it out can save the piece until you can grab a fresh marker.

mason_murray811d ago

My buddy Alex had his cool gray 3 die on him at a convention once, right in the middle of a 50 dollar commission. Had to just lean into it and turn the whole piece into a grungy charcoal look with whatever markers still worked.