10 Essential Art Supplies for the Traditional Animator

Speaking of 2B pencils, it's always good to have a set of drawing pencils around. I tend to use mechanical pencils rather often--too often, my instructors in art school would crack on me about it all the time--but for animation work, usually a regular wooden pencil is best. I like my Eberhard Faber set, but Sanford and Tombow also make some good collections of pencils in various lead hardnesses.

When you're retracing animation, 2B is usually the best hardness to use; it's soft enough to have enough give for a varied line, but hard enough to make good dark, clean lines.