Derwent Graphic Pencils
These are good quality pencils and they come in the full the range of hardness -- from 9b (softest) to 9h (hardest.) You can buy them individually and you can buy them in sets of 12. The "Medium Designer" set in a tin is the best range for drawing artists. There are 12 pencils in this set -- 6b to 4h.

Find them here at Dick Blick.

Prismacolor Sketch Accessory Set
This small sketching kit by Primacolor would be a good starter kit for beginning drawing artists.

It comes with:

• Three turquoise pencils 8B, HB, 6H

• White vinyl eraser

• Disposable sanding pad

• Two tortillons

• Blending stump

This small set would also be good to keep in your traveling kit or in the glove compartment of your car along with a small pad of paper.

Find it here at Dick Blick.

Sanford Turquoise 2mm Lead Holder and Leads
Lead holders, or mechanical pencils, are a little heavier than wooden pencils, you need a special sharpener for them, and they are a little expensive to get started with. I like them better than any other pencil though.

From a practical point of view, they are easy and quick to sharpen. You just spin them around in the sharpener a few times. The point, I believe, is longer and sharper than the sort of point you get on a regular wooden pencil. Most of all though, the leads don't break nearly as often as they do in regular wooden pencils. I don't know how many wooden pencils I've come across that are nearly useless because the lead broke off as soon as I tried to sharpen it or the minute I touched it to the paper.

I have several lead holders and I keep a different hardness of lead in each one. I mark the holders with different colors of tape so that I can easily see which holder to pick up as I'm drawing.

Turquoise 2mm leads come in 14 degrees of hardness. (6B through 6H) You will probably want to supplement this degree range with other pencils or leads so that you will have the full range (9B to 9H.) Lead hardness is not standardized, so it's a good idea to buy as many of your leads or pencils at the same time and of the same brand as you can.

Find them here at Dick Blick.