If you are a beginner in traditional drawing, this article will introduce you to the essential tools to start your learning journey.
What equipment to choose to start your apprenticeship?
Here is a summary of the list we will cover:
Paper
Graphite pencils
A pencil sharpener
A standard eraser or kneaded eraser
Blending stumps
Which paper to choose?
When we start drawing, we are in a discovery phase. This is a stage where you will experiment and make many mistakes. Therefore, I suggest you opt for sketch paper.
Recommended sketchbook: Canson XL in A4 format
Which pencil should you use for drawing?
To create sketches and drawings, you will need several graphite pencils of different types depending on their degree of hardness or softness, indicated by a scale.
If you see the letter B on a pencil, it means it is a soft lead pencil. Meanwhile, the letter H indicates a hard lead pencil.
Recommended pencils: Faber-Castell 9000 HB – 3B – 8B
The HB will be used for sketching, the 3B for shadows, and the 8B for dark black values.
Which pencil sharpener to choose?
For your first sharpener, prioritize a simple metal one with replaceable blades. As you can imagine, this is the most durable choice.
Note that it is possible to sharpen a pencil with a utility knife for better results, but this is not necessarily suitable for a beginner. Sandpaper can also prove useful for charcoal or pastel pencil leads.
Metal pencil sharpener: Staedtler or Caran d’Ache
Which eraser should you use for your drawings?
An eraser is an essential, whether it is for correcting mistakes, lightening an area, creating details, or even blending.
Standard eraser: Staedtler Mars Plastic
Precision eraser: Tombow Mono Zero
Kneaded eraser: Cretacolor
Blending stumps in drawing
As a beginner, I suggest you do not blend at first. Learn to use the correct pencil value to create smooth and consistent finishes instead.
After a few drawings, you can start using pieces of paper towel to try your first blending techniques.
Once you have passed these stages, you can buy a few paper blending stumps and a fiberglass strip to clean them.
10.5 mm paper stump: Corect Art
Note that a paper stump requires a bit of maintenance; a piece of paper towel can be easier to use.
What are the most popular art stores?
The most well-known stores are mainly located in large cities.
Outside of major cities, I suggest looking into stores like Cultura, which always have excellent sections filled with drawing materials.
Many online shops also exist; however, try to buy all the tools you need in a single order to reduce shipping costs.
Now that you have your tools, let's see how to start your learning process.
To begin, I recommend doing a few drawing sessions per week (30 minutes to 1 hour). Draw simple subjects from images or tutorials.
This practice will allow you to build a drawing habit. Once this stage is complete, you can focus more on drawing lessons and learning the fundamentals.
Thank you for reading!