I have been using Copic markers for almost three years now and still adore them. If you haven't seen my post on using Copic markers for fashion illustration, you can check it here.
One of the reasons why I prefer Copics among other marker brands is that you can refill them. This definitely saves money over time as you begin to sketch more and more. The ink refills are less expensive than the marker itself and can refill a Copic Sketch 8-10 times. How great is that?! Usually I need to refill my most used markers every month or two so this saves me a lot of money. I also replace the brush nib when refilling as it makes the marker feel brand new and blending easier.
You can use one of these two methods to refill your markers. I use the first one more often but the second one is definitely more efficient. But it is up to you to decide what works best for you. You can try both methods and see which one you prefer.
1. Ink Directly On The Nib
This method is very quick and can be done when you are in a rush or don't have a spare brush nib. All you have to do is open the wide nib part of your marker and put ink droplets directly on it. The large nib will soak in more ink than the brush one and when you put your marker horizontally, the ink will spread nicely. I usually put about 10 drops, depending on how dry is the marker. The downside of this is that it is much slower if you want to refill a marker completely.
2. Ink into Reservoir
The other way to refill the Copic markers is to remove the nib with a tweezer and drop the ink directly into ink reservoir. Sometimes this can be a little bit messy as you can easily get ink all over while pulling the nib out. But at the same time, this way you can refill faster and also gives you a chance to replace the nib which makes the marker as good as new.
Hopefully you find this post helpful. It's really easy to refill Copics and as I already said, makes them much more affordable than other markers in long term.