Tools of the Trade

When you walk into a craft or art store and you find the drawing aisle, you’re gonna find hundreds of different pens, pencils, markers, drawing pads, erasers, and a bunch of other things. The prices may range from a buck or two, to over a hundred. Honestly, the cheaper stuff will do pretty much everything the fancier stuff does too. The main thing you need is a good pencil. On the side of a drawing pencil you will probably see some numbers and letters like 2B, HB, or 2H. These just tell you how hard the pencil lead is. 2B through 6B are softer (6B being the softest), 2H through 6H are harder (6H being the hardest), and HB is the middle. My preference is HB. Pick whatever you like best though. Also, you’ll want a good eraser. For drawing, big block erasers work well. Finally, get some paper. If you already have some plain copy paper, that will work, but a drawing pad has thicker paper and erases better.