What’s a good Blending Combination for Copic YR07?
I’ve colored with Copic Markers professionally for almost 30 years. After all this time, I can certainly share more than a few orange blending combinations with you.
But I’m always a little sad when someone asks for a marker recipe.
There’s more to artistic coloring than pretty Copic blending combinations.
To be honest, blending combos are the least of what we do.
Today, let’s look at Copic YR07 Cadmium Orange from the artist’s perspective— how do I use this orange marker in my classes and in my artwork?
Let’s get past the basic blending and find out how this marker really performs.
Copic Marker YR07 Cadmium Orange is an excellent all-purpose marker for beginner coloring. It’s a traditional Halloween orange, useful for florals and food illustration. YR07 blends well with YR but better with Y markers. We highly recommend YR07 as the first orange in your starter collection.
Copic YR07 is a classic Pumpkin Orange
If you’re looking for an all-around Halloween marker, you can’t do better than YR07.
If you close your eyes and imagine the color orange— what you envision is very close to YR07.
I don't want to call it a stereotypical color but YR07 is that basic orangey-orange you remember from your first box of crayons.
In the beginner’s challenge level Baby Pumpkin class project shown here, I’ve used YR07 to create the deeper zones between each lobe of the pumpkin.
About the Yellow-Red YR Color Family:
With Copic Markers, there is no “orange” family. YR is the color designation for a mixed-ink formula of yellow inks plus red inks, hence the “YR” designation.
So when someone tells you “oh, YR is just what Copic calls orange”, you kinda expect to see a family full of basketball colored markers.
In reality, the Copic YR palette is more soft flesh tones and deep brassy ambers than traditionally orange markers. It’s an odd family of colors and YR07 is one of the few truly orange Copics.
About Copic’s YR “Zero” Ink Group:
YR07 is part of the “Zero” group of YR markers— the first number in the ID code tells you the group number. In general, Copics which start with 0 are bold and saturated colors which tend to be easy blending.
Warning: I wouldn’t say YR07 is a very easy blender but of the traditional oranges available in Copic, YRO7 is the easiest.
Learn more about the Copic Numbering system in my article at MarkerNovice.com here.
About the Color Value:
The second number in the code YR07 is 7. This tells you that YR07 is at the darker end of the Zero group (nine would be the darkest).
Normally, darker Copic inks are more challenging to blend with other markers but the starting 0 tells you this one is tamer than your average level 7 marker.
The fact that YR07 is a traditional medium-dark orange with a slightly easier blending nature makes YR07 an excellent choice for your first true orange Copic Marker purchase.
About the Name “Cadmium Orange”:
YR07 is named after Cadmium Orange paint. Cadmium paints are synthetic colors known for brightness and saturation.
Relax, Copic Inks do not contain cadmium. Cadmium is a name, not an ingredient.
Copic color names often seem vague or odd; perhaps they don’t translate well from Japanese to English. It’s frustrating that many Copic colors do not resemble the object or color they’re named after.
In this case, the name actually makes sense. YR07 Cadmium Orange is a very close match to the color of Cadmium Orange paint.
Is Copic YR07 Lightfast?
Does it fade quickly? Can it be erased? Does it shatter? Does the cap color match the ink color?
I’ve tested YR07 ink to help you better predict how this ink will behave during use.
See the test results for:
Lightfastness
Layering
Color Build-up
Dilution
Value
Cap Accuracy
Behavior upon contact with Colorless Blender
MarkerNovice.com is the sister site to VanillaArts.com where I offer reliable information for Copic Marker beginners.
How do I use Copic YR07 Cadmium Orange in classes and projects?
YR07 is my most-frequently used orange marker for teaching. If you see a Vanilla Arts class project which has an orange object, we’re almost certainly using YR07.
I also reach for YR07 in my personal coloring. It’s my all around, go-to, favorite orange marker.
I prefer orange with a warm golden under-glow which means I don’t usually use YR07 in combination with other YR markers.
YR07 + Y38 is my favorite pairing. Y38 gives Cadmium Orange a warm vibrancy.
The added bonus is that Y markers have a lot of solvent in their ink formula.
More solvent equals better blending:
YR07 - Y38 is relatively easy for beginners to blend smoothly
YR07 - YR04 is a stubborn combination which requires some skill and patience to smooth completely
Read more about how I use YR07 Cadmium Orange in the following articles:
Read More:
Click to visit more orange coloring articles here at Vanilla Arts
How to blend with Copic YR07
Here are a few sample blends using YR07 Cadmium Orange.
In the Self Blending swatch, I’ve created 3 layers of YR07. The darker left side is three coats of ink, the middle mid-tone is two layers, and the far right is one layer of ink.
People don’t often think about blending a marker with itself but self-blending always creates the easiest gradient possible and a self combination always looks smooth.
I’ve sampled two natural blending groups for you.
A natural blending combination is 2-3 markers which all share the same first number.
Naturals are usually easy blends but in the case of YR-Zero markers, you may have a few issues. The entire family is “staining” which means they grab onto paper fibers and don’t let go easily. This is more so for the darker end of the group (YR07 and YR09)
The Dark Natural blend uses YR07 in the middle. YR09-07-04. It’s a pretty blend but there’s not a lot of difference between YR09 and YR07 so the left side isn’t very dramatic.
The Light Natural blend uses YR07 as the darkest marker. You may be shocked to see how pink this combination looks compared to the natural dark combo. The pinky-peach tone comes from YR02 which totally overwhelmed the more golden YR04. I’m personally not a fan of this combination and I’m honestly not sure where or when I’d ever use it.
The last swatch is my favorite and this is how I use YR07 most often. I underpaint with BV01 (or sometimes V20) to get the dirty grayish desaturation we see in realistic shade. Then YR07 goes over the top of the blue-violet and blends with Y38 for a golden glow. I threw in Y25 so you could see how gold this combo can get but I rarely takeYR07 that light.
Tips for blending YR07:
Note: YR07 is a staining marker which means it won’t blend as easily as a non-staining color like B32 or Y04.
Work fast— Don’t let YR07 dry on the paper before trying to blend it out. The longer it sits, the more firmly it grips the paper. Your best blends with YR07 will be wet on wet.
Be generous with your blending inks— No blend works well when you skimp on ink but stubborn colors require extra juice to blend smoothly.
Don’t over-ink with YR07— the more dark ink you lay down, the more you’ll have to blend out. Be generous with the blending ink, not the YR07.
Don’t go back and add more YR07— a lot of colorers work back and forth between their light and dark markers, adding more and more layers until the blend finally appears. In my opinion, this is a waste of ink but it also compounds the problem. If a blend isn’t smoothing, the last thing you want to add is more of the problematic color.
The most important tip for coloring with orange markers:
I don’t know if it’s because beginners have only a few markers to choose from or if there’s something odd going on with how people see color…
But I see a lot of people using orange markers to shade yellow objects.
Orange is not “dark yellow”.
Shaded yellow is a murky golden brown color.
If you look at a real lemon or banana, you won’t see orange in the shady areas, so don’t pull out an orange marker to shade a yellow rubber duckie.
Shaded yellow is Y28, not YR07.
(BTW, the links above are to classes which teach you to color that yellow object without the use of orange markers)
Since orange is not dark yellow, the reverse is also true:
Yellow is not “light orange”.
Yellow and orange are different hues. They sit next to each other on the color wheel, not in the same pie piece. You’d never say “yellow is light green” or “blue is light purple”, right? And yet lots of people use canary style yellows as a light orange.
Keep your yellows distinct from your oranges.
Light orange looks peach in color. I’m not a fan of YR02 because it’s very pink but YR21 is an excellent example of a diluted orange. YR07 -YR04 - YR21 is an excellent orange gradation, it’s just not the easiest of blends to color smoothly.
Orange and yellow are not the same… So if you’re inspired by my favorite YR07 blending combination above which uses a few Y markers, avoid using a cool temperature yellow like Y02, 04, or 06. Stick with a richer Y rather than a school-highlighter type yellow. Avoiding cool yellow will preserve the integrity and the “orange feel” of your orange objects.
Shade and highlight suggestions for YR07 Cadmium Orange
If you’ve read many articles here at VanillaArts.com or taken any of my classes, you know I teach an underpainting method.
In underpainting, we choose opposite colors on the color wheel to add the realistic murkiness found in real-life shade. We “desaturate” with complementary colors. Read more in my article series here.
After I underpaint and blend with Copics, I come back with colored pencils to boost the shade and add highlights. My pencils rarely match the Copics.
Shade suggestions for YR07 Cadmium Orange:
Copic Underpaint— B21, B32, BV00, BV20, BV31, V01, V12, or V20
Prismacolor Pencil Overpaint: PC931 Dark Purple, PC1008 Parma Violet, PC937 Tuscan Red, or PC1032 Pumpkin Orange.
Highlight suggestions for YR07 Cadmium Orange:
As the lightest color in a YR07 bending combination: YR21, YR61, or Y38
Prismacolor Pencil Overpaint: PC 914 Cream, PC940 Sand, PC917 Sunburst Yellow
Is YR07 a good Orange Marker for beginners?
Yes!
I teach beginner classes with YR07 because it’s one of the easiest blending YR Copics.
This makes it an excellent starter orange.
Remember, orange markers in general are not easy-blenders; they’re stubborn by nature. But…
If you’re looking for an easy-ish orange that isn’t too peach, pinkish, or amber— then YR07 is your best bet.
Cadmium Orange YR07 is available in all three Copic Marker styles— Sketch, Ciao, and Classic. No matter which style you prefer, YR07 will fit right into your existing collection.
YR07 is part of my recommended starter list for beginners.
My starter set is also great if you’re in that collection-building phase where you don’t have many markers and want to purchase the most useful and versatile markers firs.
I highly recommend YR07 as your first orange marker purchase.
Read more about my starter set with tips for building your marker collection in my article here.
Learning Resources for Copic YR07 Cadmium Orange
See YR07 in action:
Use our Vanilla Undercover swatches to add realistic depth and shade to your next coloring project.
We publish new swatches every Thursday.
Vanilla Undercover is sponsored by Violeta-Ink.com
Blending Combinations with YR07:
Elena Cazares from Violeta-Ink.com shows you how to make every Copic look beautiful in her All About video series at YouTube.
Watch as Elena demonstrates how to blend with this marker using three unique blending combinations. She usually throws in a few tips as she colors but the real benefit is just watching the unedited blending process in real time.
There’s even a free downloadable template to color along with Elena.
Vanilla Arts Online Classes & Kits using YR07 or similar orange color palettes:
(Click for more info)
Vibrant & Smooth Blending
Join Amy for an introduction to artistic and expressive coloring, beyond regular blending technique.
Baby Pumpkin: Color Staining & Intro to Coloring Large Images
Learn to master stubborn staining markers, underpaint for amazing dimension, and add unexpected pops of vibrant textural color.
Beginner’s Challenge Level
Copic Marker + Prismacolor Premier Colored Pencils
Color with Amy at your convenience. Anytime access, work at your own pace, no expiration dates.
Class Printable Pack Includes:
Digital stamp in 3 easy print options
Class syllabus with detailed recipe guide
Full color project sample
Guide to Copic base
Detailed color map
Project inspiration references
Select supplies used in Baby Pumpkin:
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