Learning or working to improve your own drawing ability is a delicate process that takes time and investment.
Many of the most accomplished artists began their careers as fledgling painters, sculptures, or through the use of pencils with drawing. For those who intend to express themselves through drawing, it can often be difficult to know just where to start.
Investing your time and money in drawing materials for beginners is one proven method that is very likely to pay off in the long run for blossoming artists of any age.
It’s never too late to get started drawing and it is actually an excellent way to relax and calm your mental and emotional state while creating beautiful pieces of artwork that lead to a sense of fulfillment.
In this article, we will discuss some of the most important drawing materials for beginners.
If you’re looking to get started as an artist, drawing is a great starting point and having the right components goes a long way in your ability to produce works that are capable of captivating viewers and allowing you to express yourself.
Drawing Materials
1. Graphite Pencils
Perhaps the most important piece of your drawing materials is graphite pencils that are made of high-quality graphite. Starting your drawing journey with a solid set of graphite pencils is a key step on the road to producing your best work.
There are a number of different styles and grades of graphite and it’s highly important for an artist to have a thorough understanding of the capability that each one has.
There are countless numbers of brands and styles of graphite pencils and narrowing them all down to your own choice is more or less a matter of personal preference.
To start, we recommend purchasing a full set of graphite pencils instead of individual ones. This will allow you to work with a wide variety of different kinds and experiment with which ones you enjoy using the most. T
here is no one single graphite pencil that is considered best for any type of drawing and artists should be encouraged to work with an array of different kinds in order to establish the one that helps them bring their artwork to life.
Graphite pencils come in different grades, or levels of boldness or darkness. These various shades are designated by corresponding letters and numbers that help artists quickly and easily identify the one that they need in order to produce the exact degree of darkness and definition their artwork demands.
Contrary to popular belief, there is actually no lead in graphite pencils. These types of pencils are able to produce various levels of darkness thanks to a unique combination of graphite and clay, which work together to give artists a defined ability to produce lines and strokes.
Pencils that offer a more hardened graphite material are made with higher amounts of clay in them as the clay acts to hold the graphite together in a dense manner that results in a darker shade than others.
2. Sketchbook
Another essential piece of material for beginner artists is a sketchbook. This might seem like an insignificant part of your overall drawing kit, but a good, quality sketchbook is actually more important than just about any other item an artist can have in their possession.
Like any other piece of material that comprises one’s art materials, there are a range of different levels of quality and cost associated with sketchbooks.
One can accurately assume that a more expensive sketchbook will serve them well as opposed to a cheap, poorly-made option.
Understanding why it’s important to invest in a premium-quality sketchbook is a major part of one’s ability to produce eye-catching artwork.
Also Read: Sketch vs Drawing – What’s the Difference?
It’s important for an artist to keep and maintain their works in an organized, easy-to-access format that allows them to regularly revisit certain areas or ideas that they might have only had time to jot down after a spontaneous burst of creativity.
Be sure to select a sketchbook that is well-made and capable of holding together no matter where you want to take it.
Also Read: Drawing Ideas for Your Sketchbook
Many artists make the mistake of leaving their sketchbook and other materials at home or in their own studio, but keeping this particular item with you is a crucial part of harnessing your own artistic ability as best you can.
3. Erasers
It’s incredibly important to have the means to create artwork using high-quality pencils or other types of art mediums.
It is also equally as important to have the ability to erase and rework any section of that artwork that you deem necessary. This is why having a good eraser is a highly important part of drawing materials for beginners.
Like so many other pieces of your drawing arsenal, there are a number of different types of erasers that each have their own particular purpose in the creative process.
Some artists boldly declare that finality and a sense of permanence is a major part of helping an artist truly develop their own artistic ability. While this is partly true, there’s nothing wrong with a beginning artist to thoroughly utilize an eraser as they see fit.
Kneaded erasers are one of the most prominent kinds of erasers in the art industry. It will allow the artist to mold and shape it into the form that will best serve their own purpose, but a kneaded eraser will, overtime, collect more and more material.
This will eventually render it useless and you’ll have to purchase a new one, but beginning artists should absolutely make a kneaded eraser part of their drawing kit to start.
Rubber erasers are also very useful as they are easy to use and quite efficient when it comes to removing pencil drawings. Artists can also make use of gum or even plastic erasers if they so choose.
We recommend dabbling in many pieces of drawing with a number of different erasers in order to determine which one best serves your own needs as an artist.
4. Sharpener
Keeping your pencils sharp is as important as any part of the drawing process. While this section of assembling your drawing materials is very often overlooked, accomplished artists who are known for creating masterful drawings will agree that having a quality pencil sharpener is key to the overall creative process.
A cheap sharpener will all-too-often take away too much of the pencil’s material and, thus, wear down the tool in a faster duration than it actually should.
Artists who wisely invest in a good quality pencil sharpener will find that they spend much less time working to hone the edge of their pencil and more time drawing.
5. Variety of Paper
The items you use to produce marking on paper are important, but the surface you choose to draw upon is also another important item you’ll need to keep in mind.
Obtaining quality paper is sometimes an obvious part of the process of acquiring the best drawing materials for beginners, but many artists seem to learn the true importance of paper after a series of trial and error.
The many different kinds of paper will play a pivotal role in an artist’s ability to create the type of drawings they intend to. As you’ve probably already guessed, investing in more expensive, better quality paper will offer better overall results in the end.
Also Read: Can Anyone Learn to Draw?
An artist should always pay attention to certain characteristics of paper that will help them determine its quality and usefulness for drawing.
The thickness or weight of the paper will allow you to bear down on it more and produce deeper, darker drawings.
Some paper will have a heavier ‘tooth’ than others, which means the paper with less tooth will often be smoother and harder to work with depending on the specific type of graphite pencil you choose.
6. Charcoal
Any artist who enjoys working in the realm of drawing should experiment with charcoal drawing. This is a bit more messy and often harder type of medium to master, but charcoal presents an artist with an entirely new ability to leave thicker and heavier markings than pencils.
Charcoal has a more broad range of shading than graphite material and artists who enjoy producing black and white images often relish the opportunity to work with charcoal.
The material that makes up most charcoal is more dense and concentrated than graphite, which means artists can create a much greater depth in their works by using it.
7. Fixative
One of the major downsides to working in pencils and other drawing material is their susceptibility to be smudged or easily removed by accident.
Fixative is a liquid material that is very similar to varnish and is used to preserve a drawing in a way that largely prevents smudging.
If you plan to produce drawings that will last a long time, it’s crucial that you properly employ fixatives in order to protect your artwork from any future occurrence that could damage or diminish the quality.
Thanks to technological breakthroughs as it relates to drawing materials, there are a number of new fixative sprays and other elements that are much more effective when it comes to protecting drawings.
Many artists will often use fixatives during their creative process while they are still producing the drawing. This often allows them to establish a certain part of their work as more permanent while they might continue working on another portion that can still be removed if needed.
When it comes to purchasing drawing materials for beginners that will help get you started, be sure to invest in a good quality form of fixative that you’ll be able to utilize once you’ve produced a drawing that you intend to preserve for many years to come.