What is Reddit's opinion of STAEDTLER Mars Lumograph Art Drawing Pencils, 12 Pack Graphite Pencils in Metal Case, Break-Resistant Bonded Lead, 100 G12?

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I would recommend something in the pencil range from Staedtler or Derwent, depending on your price range and what he may already have, a sketch set with a range from 6B to like 4H (because this happened to have that), but generally a range of hardnesses, a couple of different erasers (kneaded are particularly fun, but I have become partial to the white plastic ones recently), and a sketchbook or two (am partial to the recycled Strathmore ones) in a 9x12ish and/or 4x8 would probably be a good start. OH, and a good metal pencil sharpener, is cheap but probably the best thing (Pentel makes good erasers and sharpeners).

Really, you would definitely be able to drop by your local art supply store (probably Michael's) and get all he'd need, might wait for a sale or grab stuff from amazon and just look at the options in the store.

For what it's worth I'm a penniless recent college grad but the above is what I bought in hs/college with coupons and sales and the like, is definitely a good start. Colored pencils I still go with a good old 50 pack of Crayolas, and I have a 4 pack of Faber-Castell artist markers (for lining and inking), usually ~$15, can get on amazon or where ever.

Edit: Alvin (and Staedtler) also make nice mechanical pencils and the like, if he's more into (or is studying something) technical drawing. That said I have metal Zebra mechanical pencils I really like and are much of what I use right now.

If she doodles and stuff it probably matters less, they make a lot of pretty good art kits that you can pretty much just trust reviews on. If she’s really enthusiastic, you might consider going to a local art store and picking up supplies. The worst part about ordering pencils online is that if they’re handled roughly or dropped the lead can break inside the wood, then as you sharpen it the graphite just falls out. In a store, I feel like they’re more likely to be shipped safely because they’d arrive in bulk packaged together.

That said, if she loves drawing a lot, my favorite pencil set right now is the Staedtler Mars Lumograph set. They’ve been sharpening like a dream, they last well, and I’m really impressed with them.

There’s always Fabre-Castell. There are pencil sets for them, but I haven’t used them. I would guess they’re really good, because they make pretty high end brush markers.

https://www.amazon.com/STAEDTLER-break-resistant-super-bonded-100-G12/dp/B0014E2S0Q

Well, pencils are cheap, and a full set just gives you more options. A top quality set of 12 from Staedtler or Faber Castell is still < $15 on Amazon. And when it's in stock, this set from Blick's is pretty good as well.

But you don't need them all, even using different grades for different tones, 5 or 6 tonal values is usually plenty. So plenty of people just do something like 3H, H, 2B, 5B, 8B.

You should be able to achieve this just about any set of pencils. I use Stadler but any art pencils will do. It's more about how you use them. The first step is sharpening them so you can use the point and the sides. Like this video shows: https://youtu.be/Rz9x49vG9Rk

You will want to pick up a kneaded eraser and learn how to use it so lighten the values of the marks if you get too dark. Might also want a set of blending stumps to soften the edges.

Like I said it is more about the technique and the study of the human head that will allow you to achieve this style of portrait, not the utensil in which you use.

These are the pencils I use but like I said not that important just an example of the type of set you can pick up: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014E2S0Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glc_fabc_VP12EVR706J9B7DWYVQ1

Kneaded eraser: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYU5S6D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glc_fabc_ADFMF4ZRE2WW9MVJRVB0

As someone who has taken art classes for a year, from personal experience, especially if you wanna get into hyper realism, a good place to start is with black and white drawings (Doing hyper realism in colour requires a wide range of pencils that can be both super expensive and a little overwhelming at first :p).

I’d recommend buying the twelve set Staedtler pencils:

Here’s a link :3

https://www.amazon.ca/Staedtler-Pencil-Lumograph-100-G12/dp/B0014E2S0Q?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_1

Also, if you wanna get into portraits, don’t forget to buy a H6 pencil from the same company.

This is a great start! You’ll have all the shades you need for black and white hyper realistic drawings.

Once you get those (if you want of course!) Outline little blocks and then try to fill them in with each pencil until you get an uniform shade. This takes some practice but as long as you keep the pencils sharp, and slowly shade, you’ll soon get the hang of it.

I think this is a good video on this:

https://youtu.be/01GsZZk2uz8

Also, grab some Faber-Casttel Kneading erasers, they are essential in my opinion to adjust things despite the skills an artist might have!

Practice your sketches, this is so important to do, because once your get the sketch right, you won’t have to adjust any major elements of the drawing and you’ll basically only have to shade.

Once you’re satisfied with your sketch, you can copy it by shading the back of the page with the darkest pencil you have, B6 or B4, and then flip the page and tape it onto the paper you wanna actually draw on. Then grab and pencil and press gently on the lines along the sketch and it’ll copy it by imprinting the black on the back of the page onto the paper. This will help you not worrying about erasing your sketch over and over and thus not running your paper because you’ll be able to work on other normal printing papers until you come up with the desired sketch. Because we all know drawing papers can be expensive :D

Hope this will help you a little! Remember to have fun and the mistakes along the way will be nothing but learning opportunities!

Don't buy cheap chinese pencils or colored erasers. Get yourself a nice Staedler set and some decent white erasers.

A set of these for sketching: https://www.amazon.com/STAEDTLER-break-resistant-super-bonded-100-G12/dp/B0014E2S0Q/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=staedtler+pencils+set&amp;qid=1572010245&amp;sr=8-4

Or just get yourself some HB staedlers for drafting.

These

I bought these pencils from amazon and I think they are pretty good. I am not any kind of good artist or anything, but I just wanted some different pencils to play with. There are more expensive versions, so these might not be the best ones out there.