Introduction to Pencil Drawing Supplies and Techniques

Don't go out and spend a ton of money on your drawing supplies in the beginning. It would be a mistake and having to much supplies to choose from might cause you to want to give up.

A number 2 pencil, A4 copy paper, an eraser and a pencil sharpener will do fine in the beginning.

And two little tips, don't skip exercises. They may look like scribbles, but the exercises will help you learn techniques. And number two, don't think you are going to start out creating masterpieces. You're not and I wouldn't want you to be discouraged. As I tell my son, patience – it will all come together in the end.

When you are more comfortable with drawing, you can then forge ahead and spend money on better supplies.

For those who cannot resist that itch to go out and buy some supplies – remember I'm dealing with a child at home – here's some additional information that I hope is helpful.

Graphite Pencils

I see a lot of artist giving you their manufacturer recommendations or what is popular in the artist community. I am not going to – because what manufacturer's product that may work for me may not work for you.

What I will tell you is that graphite pencils are labeled from 9B to 9H. The B stands for soft  and the H stands for hard. The higher the number is in front of the B the darker the mark and the higher the number in front of the H the lighter the mark . When you start drawing, the best pencil is a 2B, it can produce soft grays and strong blacks, it should be of good quality and free of any grit.

Drawing Paper

As you progress in drawing, what supplies wouldn't be complete without the paper of your choice and there is a huge variety of paper available to artist now.

But as I stated earlier, in the beginning copy paper is the best choice. You can erase and erase and not do to much damage to your paper. There's also newsprint paper, but I don't care much for it.

Now, your sketchbooks come in all sizes and grades. Again, I am not going to tell you who I prefer as you should experiment with them and find the most suitable one for your drawing style. Sketchbooks are reasonable priced and believe me they won't go to waste. 

Erasers

In the beginning try to find a good quality, but ordinary eraser. Also, try eraser pencils. They can be sharpened and are good at getting into smaller areas.

As your experience increases, you'll want to take a look at kneaded erasers. These are soft pliable erasers that can be formed in any shape to pick up pencil or charcoal and don't leave a residue behind. But for smaller details you might want to continue with the eraser pencil. Again experiment, a bad eraser can ruin your drawings.

Pencil Sharpener

One of the last items you need in your beginners drawing supplies is a good sharpener. Don't waste your money on inexpensive sharpeners. We want to get the last drop of graphite we can out of that pencil. Also, don't make the tip of your pencil to sharp. A sharp point can dig into your paper and ruin your drawing or the tip can easily snap. Being female, I have an emory board in my drawing supplies to dull the tip. If your male, you probably have sandpaper lying around your garage that you could use.

Summary

Remember, you need to experiment when choosing your drawing supplies. As you are trying different effects and techniques, you'll soon develop a partiality for certain drawing materials.