I stick with basic pencils and pens - https://uniball.co.uk/eye-fine-ub-157/http://palominobrands.com/blackwing/

I was using a dotgrid.co template book for a while http://www.dotgrid.co/product/dot-grid-template-book/

But recently I've started using something less 'permanent' - which has encouraged me to sketch out more creative ideas because I'm not fussed about messing up my lovely dotgrid book. I couldn't recommend these enough!

Printable sheets of dotgrid templates - http://www.sneakpeekit.com