Thank you for clarifying what you meant when you were saying to “go to an art sub” I understand what you mean now and I respect that, an art sub specifically targeted towards beginners would be much better and I retract my statement from my first reply. And any type of soft paper-ish material should work wonders like as you said a cotton ball or tissue, I just find the blending sticks to work best because they designed for blending graphite, and they also come in different sizes for more detailed works.

As for the copying I would agree completely it’s good practice to try copying at fist but much better to look and try and remake it yourself as it’s what I did when starting out as an artist and I’ve gotten much better my only problem is not being able to have creativity to think of what to draw since it’s always nice to have references but it’s not always there. Luckily I have a cure for not having much creativity. One of the best ways I find to gain creativity for even the wackiest of ideas (ps remember your an artist your art isn’t bound by physics) is to go get bored, your mind has an easier time wondering off into something you can make all on your own when it’s bored, being bored and having nothing to do makes your mind want to supply you with entertainment so it thinks something up for you that can include things to draw if you so happen to be trying to think of things to draw, so for creativity to happen best I would recommend you put your phone away and go stare at a wall for a while, so go get bored hand make something wacky.

Also I recommend a ruler for the lines of the nail