Copic Multiliner SP Pens Review

It recently dawned on me that I had neglected to individually review several of the sketching tools from my storage drawers. Thus we'll take a closer look at the Copic Multiliner SP Pens.These are the oldest Copic multiliner SP pens in my collection. I have replaced the original nib once and the ink refill twice on the 0.5 mm pen. The barrels remain in great shape, but the "0.5" marking has worn off the cap of the pen that has seen the most use (rubbed off from repeatedly closing the cap tight with my thumb). Thus it might be prudent to hold the pen cap from the sides when closing a multiliner pen.
Sample sketches drawn with the 0.25 mm and 0.5 mm pens on white card stock.
0.3 mm sample sketches drawn with the Country SP Set and a Pilot S3 mechanical pencil on a hardbound sketchbook from Barnes & Noble.
The Good: These Copic Multiliner SP Pens are comfortable to hold and sketch freehand while looking quite sharp with their polished aluminum barrels. They are refillable with their Copic and Water Proof archival pigment inks that are available in several colors and black as open stock. There are replacement nibs available in case of damage. They come in many different nib sizes from 0.03 mm all the way up to 0.7 mm plus a brush nib. Sets of 4 color pens packaged in in sturdy acrylic storage cases are available and cost less than buying the pens individually.
The Bad: They are rather expensive even at discounted online prices. A single SP pen often costs as much as a set of 4 Faber Castell Pitt Artist Pens, Sakura Pigma Sensei or Microns, or Prismacolor Archival Pemier Illustration Markers. The brush nib is not very sturdy and frays rather quickly producing streaky marks rather than clean brush strokes (Notice the feathering on the top edge of the painterly strokes drawn with the black SP brush pen in the sketch samples above drawn on a blank Kolo journal).In my experience the Copic SP brush nib wears down and loses its sharp point a lot faster than the Faber Castell Pitt brush nib which at least can be flipped over for a longer useful life. When working with a Copic brush nib multiliner is very important to select a smooth surface paper, for coarse or vellum paper tends to sand down and destroy the brush nib in no time. Once a brush nib gets blunt, I tend to set aside the pen for filling in blacks. I would not recommend changing brush nibs too often, for it might cause a poor fit between the nib and ink reservoir disrupting the ink flow.
Coloring the Copic SP black brush pen outline with the Pentel Brush Pens that feature water-based dyes confirmed the water proof quality of the Copic pigment ink. Thus they would likely work well with watercolors in field sketching kits.
The E00 Skin White Copic Sketch Marker is a popular choice for laying down the basic skin tones.
Using the E02 Fruit Pink Copic Sketch Marker to give some volume to the face sketches.
The Y17 Golden Yellow was used to render the darker areas of the blond hairstyles that were initially colored with the lighter Y08 Acid Yellow.
Coloring the smaller 0.25 mm and 0.5 mm sketches with a few Copic Sketch Markers was fairly quick and easy.

The Copic Multiliner SP Pens are a good choice for creating line art intended to be colored with water-based inks and Copic Sketch markers. None of the outlines drawn smeared nor stained the brush nibs of the Pentel Brush Pens or Copic Sketch markers used in this review tests. While they would certainly make a nice sharp-looking additions to any sketching kit, many artists might not need to invest in them unless they plan to work in conjunction with alcohol-based Copic markers as well. For those that do not require compatibility with Copic markers, there are several other quality pigment liner pens (including the disposable plastic body Copic Multiliner Pens) in the market that retail for a fraction of the cost of SP pens and meet the water proof requirement to effectively work with watercolors and other water media.