basic drawing supplies

When it comes to drawing you really only need a piece of paper and a pencil, but it helps to have a few more tools so that you can achieve even better results. I included some o my favorites in the image above, however there are many different brands that produce quality products and even more speciality tools you can find to enhance your drawings. Let me know your favorite drawing supplies in the comments! 

1. Drawing pencils - you don't need a full range as pictured, but perhaps about 5 different pencils to start. I typically recommend beginners start with a 2H, HB, 2B, 4B and 6B.
2. Blending stumps and tortillons are cylindrical drawing tools, tapered at the end and usually made of rolled paper, used to smudge or blend marks made with graphite (or other drawing mediums)
3. Paper - you can use sketch paper or drawing paper. What's the difference? Sketch paper is usually a lighter weight and good for practice drawings whereas drawing paper is a bit heavier weight and works well for more polished drawings. 
4. Erasers - I like to keep a retractable eraser, a kneaded eraser and a white magic rub eraser on hand. I usually find myself using all 3 when I am drawing for different purposes. 
5. A handheld pencil sharpener is better than an electric one because you conserve more of your pencil lead (you can also sharpen drawing pencils with a knife). I like this one in particular because it has two size sharpeners and it catches all of the pencil shavings inside.
6. An eraser guard is a nice tool to have for erasing small highlights at the end of your drawing. It also doubles as a straight edge.