Free Drawing Lessons

Paper

Strathmore 300 Series Bristol Vellum.

For practicing you can use a 9" x 12" or 11" x 14".

When you get to a real drawing, you'll want to use a 14" x 17" or, even better, a 19" x 24" so you can make sure you have the room you'll need.

Pencils

You'll need a 4H, 2H, HB, 2B and 4B.

These are the top 3 recommended pencil types for the 5-Pencil Method.

#1 Blick® Studio
#2 Caran d’Ache® Grafwood
#3 Faber-Castell® Castell 9000

Kneaded Eraser

The large Design® kneaded eraser is recommended. It has the best consistency — not to hard or too soft.

Even if you decide not to get the other erasers until later, don't scrimp on getting one of these. It's an integral part of the drawing process.

Pencil Sharpener

Having a sharp pencil is one of the requirements of drawing with the 5-Pencil Method.

You may already own a sharpener that will work. Just make sure that it creates a super sharp tip on your pencils.

The X-acto Powerhouse is recommended.

Circle template

You'll need a round object that you can use to make a circle about 2 1/2" (6.3 cm) across.

A regular mouth canning jar lid works perfectly.

Brush

A 2" to 3" flat camel-hair brush is required for some of the techniques.

And it's useful for cleaning up the work area.

The Langnickel L-279 brush is recommended.

Dry Cleaning Pad Eraser

The dry cleaning pad eraser is used to clean up smudged graphite around the outside area of your drawing.

It's also how you can completely start over on a section if you need to.

Be sure to get one with pink eraser in it, not sand or the slicker white eraser.

Straightedge

The straightedge is used in the main layout method that you'll learn with the 5-Pencil Method. It's useful all around for sizing up angles and proportions.

An 18" clear acrylic ruler is recommended — not for the measuring part, but because it's easy to see through and having 18" comes in handy sometimes.

Divider

The divider is the other tool that's used in the main layout method. Having one that is at least 4" is recommended. Note that this is not a compass.

Dedicated Table Lamp

No matter what your light source is when you're drawing, it should always come from the opposite side of the hand that you draw with: if you're right-handed the light needs to come from the left and if you're left-handed put it on the right.

It's also very helpful to use a "daylight" bulb so that you can clearly see without having your work area too yellow, green or blue.

And, of course, it helps if the light is consistent.

Sometimes the easiest way to meet all three of these goals is to have a good, dedicated table lamp.

Electric Eraser

The electric eraser isn't used a lot — but when you need it, it can make a huge difference for creating a highlight just the way you want it.