Their felt-tip sketch markers are available in about a billion colors, which would be like heaven for someone into doing colorful Wild Gears drawings, but they really won't work well, if at all, with the small pen holes. The chisel tip marker is way too wide and the brush tip is likely too wide and certainly too soft and pressure sensitive to be used with Wild Gears.
The Copic Multiliner and Multiliner SP, however, have plastic tips similar to the Pigma Micron pens. Here's the Multiliner SP that I purchased.
These pens are designed to last a lifetime. The barrel is aluminum. The ink cartridge is replaceable, as is the nib. If you're really into minimal environmental impact and are bothered by throwing away a whole pen when the ink runs out or the tip wears down, this may be an important feature for you. This feature, however, comes at a price. One Copic Multiliner SP cost me more than an entire pack of six Sakura Pigma Micron pens in the same nib size.
I have to say the feel of the Copic is very nice. It's extremely light. The cap snaps in place with an audible "click". Even posting the cap to the end of the pen has a very secure feel.
So how is it where the rubber meets the road?
This is a simple 192/120 sequencing from A1 through D9 using the Copic Multiliner SP 0.05.
Here is the exact same pattern using a Sakura Pigma Micro 005.
Both pens were brand new. I opened a new pack of Pigma Microns just for this comparison. It may be difficult to tell in the full images so here are some closeups of the center of each of the drawings. Pigma Micron on the left, Copic Multiliner SP on the right.
I hope this makes it more obvious that the Copic lays down a finer line than the Pigma Micron. This is not to say the Pigma Micron is not a good pen. It most definitely is. Given the price difference, the question perhaps becomes whether the Copic is six times better than the Pigma Micron. I would have to say probably not. The jury is still out on the longevity of the Copic nib and ink supply. The Copic site says the 0.03, 0.05, and 0.10 pens will write about 1200 meters. That may sound like a lot but I probably burned up a significant portion of that in just that one drawing above. I do think it clear at this point that if you want the finest line and price is not a significant obstacle, the Copic Multiliner SP would be a good choice.
One tip I found on the Copic site is to store the pens horizontally, not vertically. The ink is pigment based, meaning it has a lot of very fine particles suspended in a liquid carrier. If you leave the pen stored vertically, over time these particles may settle out of solution and clog the nib.
Given that the "Pigma" portion of Pigma Micron is a reference to pigment, I suspect the same advice is likely true for those pens as well. I did have one that was stored vertically for a long time and it acted like it dried out not long after I started using it again. I gave it a good shake and it started writing okay again, which makes me wonder if the pigments had clogged the nib but the shaking put them back into solution.
The Copic is also available in a 0.03 nib. Please note these numbers are not measurements in millimeters, despite what most vendors and even the manufacturers often claim on their web sites. A 005 and a 0.05 are the same nominal size, roughly 0.18mm. A 0.03 nib would be about 0.15mm. I plan to write something about this numbering system in the future, as soon as I think I understand it enough to do so.
Addendum: The nib on the Copic Multiliner wore out quicker than I thought it would. For normal drawing, which is what it's intended for, I'm sure it would last a lot longer. Drawing with only small gears would probably extend its life as well. With larger gears it's impossible to move the gear without putting more pressure on the pen and I'm sure this leads to excess nib wear. If you want to use this pen with larger gears I think you need to resign yourself to replacing the nib regularly. At least this is possible with the Copic.
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