HOW TO START WHITTLING!

You need several things, a sharp knife, a leather strop with compound for honing your blade, safety gloves (A5 or better) and basswood (to carve like i do at least. Watch my youtube video on the subject if you want to know which gloves you might prefer over others... "All About Carving Gloves") Solid Knife brands, Flexcut, Badger State Blades (USA), Mstein (EUROPE) there are a lot of great knife brands. Stay away from kits on amazon of several knives. They're much much lower quality with inconsistently tempered steel. (What that means is its not hardened, and so it won't stay sharp easy, meaning you're fighting the knife and dont understand why its harder for you to carve when its easy for others.)
Why Basswood? Its softer than other hardwoods and holds detail well. Learning to carve with basswood is akin to learning to drive on an automatic. It simplifies and streamlines learning. Woods like Walnut and oak can be carved, but learning to carve with them as the starting point is like learning to drive on an 18 wheeler Semi Truck with manual transmission. Its needlessly difficult.
In europe, the equivalent is Linden or English Lime, in Asia, Jelutong, and in south America Caxeta or Pink Cedar.
Wood:
Amazon.com (International)
https://schnitzerei.shop/ (Europe / Germany)
https://www.dictum.com/ (Europe / Germany)
Tool Supply Sites:
Amazon (Flexcut tools, dont buy "no name" brand kits.)
https://www.ebay.com/usr/joleenfink (Legitimate Supplier of Dockyard Tools)
Knife Sites
Woodcarving Tutorials