Drawing Kit for Beginners

There are a lot of people who, when they first start drawing, need guidance to sort out drawing materials for beginners. “What are all these fancy expensive pencil, pastel, and watercolor kits I keep seeing on the internet? Do I have to have one?” The answer is simple: no. A sketching kit for beginners can start with a few basic supplies and build on them as your skill also builds. You start with the best drawing pencils for beginners and then go on from there. This can be over the course of years. This article explores what materials you need to build a drawing kit for beginners through various stages of your art career.


What are the necessary Drawing Materials for Beginners?

For the beginner artist, materials aren’t really an issue. Your first drawing kit has already been assembled for you in the junk drawer next to the kitchen sink – you just have to find it. So dig out a No.2 pencil, that old white eraser, and a blank piece of computer paper and get to work. For the next month-and-a-half, those are exactly all the materials you will need. A principle of art (and life) is that you need to learn your craft before you build your workshop. So start drawing with whatever you have on hand. Don’t let materials hold you back if you don’t have them on hand.

What is a good Sketching Kit for Beginners?

So now, to shift gears a little, let's say that the beginner artist has been learning how to draw for about a month. Or, you want to get a gift for a budding artist to get excited. He has been practicing his drawing with a boring no.2 pencil on boring computer paper, and it's about time he deserves an upgrade.  Now, he or she gets to enjoy a basic pencil set.

Drawing Kit for Beginners - Level I

 These supplies are used from here forward.  So it is worth buying good art supplies when necessary. Each set costs on average about $30/set. When you are ready to purchase art supplies here is a list: 

Each list of supply adds onto the previous year. Think of each list as adding to your arsenal of art tools, you will reuse them several times.

In the list below, we chose the cheapest items when possible, and quality items when necessary. The product brand does affect the quality of most items such as pencils, paper and kneaded erasers. There are some items that the brand of product does not matter, such as block erasers and blending stumps.  

We work hard to keep the art supply list short, affordable and easily stored. Please reach out if you have any questions. These links are for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

  • Pencils: Faber-Castell Graphite Sketch Pencil Set - 6 Graphite Pencils (2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B) This is a good quality pencil set that also has a nice range of soft dark pencils and hard fine pencils. https://amzn.to/4dhjxon
  • Paper:
    Sketchbook     : 9 x 12 inches Sketch Book, Top Spiral Bound Sketch Pad, 1 Pack 100-Sheets (68lb/100gsm), Acid Free https://amzn.to/47QsHHr
  • Kneaded Eraser: Faber-Castell Erasers - Drawing Art kneaded Erasers, Large Size Grey - 4 Pack: Believe it or not, the brand of the kneaded eraser does matter.  Cheaper no-name brands get dirty faster and turn into the consistency of silly putty. The Kneaded Erasers that we recommend will last much longer: https://amzn.to/4ddfycm
  • Block Eraser: Hi Polimer White Block Eraser: 2 pack
    https://amzn.to/3ZwjQIw
  • Sharpener: Hand held sharpeners are very useful to have in your pencil kit. If you already have one, then skip this item.
    https://amzn.to/4gqeKUe
  • Blending Stumps: Are optional and any brand can be purchased for this item.  They are nice additions to your art kit and are used in the class videos - so sometimes they are desirable.  Remember you can use an eraser to clean them when they get dirty.
    https://amzn.to/47BmbUP
  • lasenersm 1 Piece 24 Slot Canvas Pencil Roll Up Case: Optional, Any pencil case will work, but a Pencil Roll is a nice way to store pencils and gives the ability to add additional pencils in the future.
    https://amzn.to/3BeIPWU
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Drawing Kit for Beginners

What are the best drawing pencils for Beginners?

Usually, a learner needs about 6 pencils so he can further their ability. Its important to have some pencils with a harder graphite lead, and others with a softer one, and they’ll have a special marking system.


This is the brand of pencil kit we recommend for a Learner. The perfect size, and perfect quality. 

Pencils: Faber-Castell Graphite Sketch Pencil Set - 6 Graphite Pencils (2H, HB, B, 2B, 4B, 6B) This is a good quality pencil set that also has a nice range of soft dark pencils and hard fine pencils. https://amzn.to/4dhjxon
six drawing pencils and case

What do the Markings on Drawing Pencils Mean?

Here’s an example to help explain it: if a certain pencil is marked with an H8, the H is for hard, and 8 connotes just how hard. The bigger the number, the harder the pencil (or fainter the drawing). But, alternatively, the pencil could be ‘soft’ and marked instead as B4, the B standing for soft (S would’ve made more sense, but for some reason we use B) and the 4 standing for the magnitude of the softness. Now, why does the softness or hardness matter? Well, it drastically changes the character of a pencil stroke. The stroke of a B12 is comparable to that of a soft, black crayon. The stroke of a H12, on the other hand, looks like a single blond hair that mistakenly fell onto the paper. Yes, it's that light, and the B is that dark. Anyways, the Learner we’ve been talking about has, by the one month mark, developed his skills enough where owning between just six of these different pencils will open up new dimensions to him. He doesn't need twenty pencils yet, but that's not the issue as of right now; now the Learner has six pencils. He’ll conquer the world!

What Drawing Paper Should Beginners use?

Another issue that has to be addressed is the quality of the paper our Learner has been using. Better paper will stand up to being erased and the grain will ‘grip’ the pencil lead better as well. Ever see one of those old books from the seventies, where the pages are all yellow, old, and falling apart? That's what will happen to the computer paper you’re drawing on, too. Now, admittedly, that's OK for those horrible first drawings you churned out in the first weeks when you were a beginner, but now that you’re a learner you should be upgrading to some nicer stuff (general rule of thumb: nicer = thicker paper) that’s going to stick around for a while (but not too thick!). You also learn better when you’re working on good paper, and it makes the drawings look much more official when you show them to people. Bristol, Strathmore are good brands. You can get a a sketchbook so you can keep all your drawings in there together. Once you’ve been going at this whole art thing for a while, good paper is really something you should look into. 

Sketchbook : 9 x 12 inches Sketch Book, Top Spiral Bound Sketch Pad, 1 Pack 100-Sheets (68lb/100gsm), Acid Free https://amzn.to/47QsHHr
 
Spiral BoundSketch Book with Artist Paper

What Eraser Should Learners Use?

Now, I know that this might seem a bit out of left field, but one thing that a lot of Learners miss out on is a good eraser. You should have two. One is your traditional big white pencil eraser, that you can use when you’re feeling angry to wipe out your whole drawing (you should have had one of these from the beginning). The other is called a Kinetic kneaded eraser, and is less commonly known despite it being the ultimate tool for sketchbook drawing. This malleable, grey, eraser looks and feels alot like low-density clay, and can readily be sculpted into a tiny figurine if you happen to be feeling bored. But the genius of it is that you can mold it into the point of a cone to erase a space in your drawing a hair’s thickness wide. This really comes in handy. Kinetic erasers are also capable of erasing less drastically than the big white erasers we’re all used to, and can be used to effect very subtle changes in brightness onto one’s drawing, which is an invaluable effect at times. Kinetic kneaded erasers - can't go without them!

Kneaded Eraser: Faber-Castell Erasers - Drawing Art kneaded Erasers, Large Size Grey - 4 Pack: Believe it or not, the brand of the kneaded eraser does matter. Cheaper no-name brands get dirty faster and turn into the consistency of silly putty. The Kneaded Erasers that we recommend will last much longer: https://amzn.to/4ddfycm
Four Faber Castell Artist Kneaded Erasers

What is a Blending Stump, and How to Use It?

If you look at the picture at the bottom of this paragraph, that's what a blending stump is. (no, its not a joint) The main purpose of a blending stump is revealed in the name: when you have an area of your drawing that's looking too sharp or crisp, this rolled up piece of paper helps smooth it out, and blend it. Up till now, you’ve probably been instinctively using your hands to do this by just rubbing them on the drawing to blend it into the paper. They actually work really well for the job, although as a side effect they tend to get really messy and covered with graphite from the page. The advantage of this blending stump compared to your hands, though, is its precision. Let's say you’re drawing a picture of a sparrow, and you need to soften the tear-duct of its eye. If you go sticking your fat thumbs in there, you’re going to ruin the whole drawing, so you can get out a blending stump and use the pointy end of it to reach right into that tear-duct like you needed to. Blending stump. 

Blending Stumps: Are optional and any brand can be purchased for this item. They are nice additions to your art kit and are used in the class videos - so sometimes they are desirable. Remember you can use an eraser to clean them when they get dirty.
5 artist white blending sticks

Drawing Materials for Beginners: Conclusion


In conclusion, you can start learning how to draw with some really simple materials -a no.2 pencil and computer paper- and slowly progress yourself up into a more advanced set of materials that you will slowly find yourself needing, such as a Kinetic kneaded eraser, a pencil set, or a blending stump. You can even take the time to master the pencil-thats-sharper-than-a-samurai-sword if you really want to further your gear. But there's something to be noticed. I just listed off almost a year of growth and improvement in the art of drawing, and if you added up all the materials I just listed off to you -even the fancy ones- they all cost less than 40 dollars summed. There is one of the beautiful things about drawing, the simplicity of it. You can start off with the most basic of the basic, but even when you move up to a somewhat advanced level of expertise your materials are still incredibly cheap, because the art itself is incredibly simple. Is Simplicity an art too?



If you feel your ready for a full pencil set, and you have crossed the threshold to where you deserve it , consider getting a pencil roll up case to take good care of your materials. Happy sketching!

24 Slot Canvas Pencil Roll Up Case: Optional, Any pencil case will work, but a Pencil Roll is a nice way to store pencils and gives the ability to add additional pencils in the future.

Black Artist Pencil Roll rolled up with brown leather strapPencil Roll Open with Pencils

Online Drawing Lessons

Learning to draw is very exciting. It can also be super frustrating.  So if you're looking for online drawing lessons to go along with your art supplies - you're in the right place:) 
Drawing From Nature

Art Supplies Level II

Level II Supplies add onto Level I Supplies.  

In this list you will find art materials which incorporate white chalk, toned paper and graphite powder.  These new materials make your drawings really POP!  Also included are tools to draw from life such as lit magnifying glasses, taxidermies bugs and a human skull - all great things for improving your drawing.

  • Toned Paper:  
    Sketchbook: Strathmore 400 Series Sketch Pad, Toned Tan, 5.5x8.5 inch, 50 Sheets.  
    https://amzn.to/3ZxqPRv
  • White Chalk Pencils: https://amzn.to/3BlzbBz
  • Graphite Powder: Optional, Graphite Powder is fun but also messy.  Make sure to use a very little bit.
    https://amzn.to/4dcABf5
  • Plastic Human Skull Model: Optional: We strongly recommended purchasing a plastic human skull for drawing the head in four perspectives.    https://amzn.to/3XPUzYu
  • Magnifing Glass: Optional. Our course encourages drawing directly from life.  Here is the link for the magnifying glass: https://amzn.to/3BnB2Wz
  • 1 Real Cicadas Beetle Specimem Taxidermy Dead Dried Bug Specimens: As previously stated, we encourage drawing from life.  IF you choose to use real bug specimens they can be purchased or you can catch small bugs and euthanize them in a jar with nail polish remover dabbed on a cotton ball.  The other option of course is using reference photos. 
  • 1 Real Stag Beetle Specimem Taxidermy Dead Dried Bug Specimens: As previously stated, we encourage drawing from life.  IF you choose to use real bug specimens they can be purchased or you can catch small bugs and euthanize them in a jar with nail polish remover dabbed on a cotton ball.  The other option of course is using reference photos. https://amzn.to/4eaxTrW
  • Animal Skull: Deer or Cow skulls seems to easier to come by then you would expect.  Many people know a hunter or friend that has a skull they can borrow. If you cannot find one to borrow, we recommend using a photo reference. If you want to purchase one, Etsy is likely the place to look.  This is a favorite drawing activity.
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Painting From Nature

Level III

If you'd like to experiment with painting from nature we suggest using Gouache Paint.  The supplies average about $50-$80 in total.   

It's important to remember that painting is still drawing, only with paint.  If any logistics prevent you from purchasing the painting set, just keep drawing with graphite and refining your skills. You will improve just as much as an artist.  Don't ever let supplies stop you from drawing. The most important thing is to keep drawing and build your skill. 

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