Finally I'm getting around to talking about the Ciao Markers. I know many of you have quite the collection of Ciao markers, and yest more of you are still trying to choose between the three main marker types. It can be confusing understanding the differences between a Sketch and a Ciao marker.
Ciao markers (pronounced Chow, like the Italian greeting) are a little over 10 years old. With the popularity of the Sketch marker, Japan got a lot of great feedback from artists who had fallen in love with the Super Brush. The main negative feedback for Sketch markers was the price, so Japan created the Ciao.
Ciao markers were intended as a beginner marker. All Copic markers have non-toxic ink, but Ciao markers have a special Child-safe cap. If you look close at the lid it has little holes. In case a child accidentally swallows a Ciao lid, they'll still be able to breathe. Sadly, this cap design means that they can't put the color numbers on the end like many of you prefer. Don't worry though, the cap isn't letting air into the marker, so your marker still won't dry out even if it sits in your drawer unused for a while.
Most of us are not going to go swallow marker lids and test out that useful feature, so what else makes a Ciao special? Ciao have the same two nib types as a Sketch marker, but only half as many colors. Ciao are refillable, but there are no empty markers available to mix your own colors. Ciao hold less ink to begin with, so you'll have to refill sooner (for this reason I don't use Ciao in my workshops- when you have to refill a few hundred markers every few months it gets to be a pain).
If someone asks me which are better, Ciao or Sketch, I have to say I use both since the brush is what I color with the most. Sketch has more colors and fits precisely in the airbrush, but Ciao are a great price, and many people like that they are slightly smaller, so they fit easily in your hand.
So, if you don't mind refilling sooner, love the Super Brush nib, don't mind that your colors are limited, and airbrushing isn't that important then go for the Ciao. You can always fill in those extra colors with Sketch later on.
This image is in honor of the mint that my husband didn't water while I was at CHA. To get the soft edges I used a lot of blender on the paper first, then colored it while still damp. Image: Peppermint by My Favorite Things, Ink: memento London Fog, Paper: Neenah Classic Crest,
