Reddit mentions of ARTKAL Mini Hard Beads C 2.6mm 24,000 Fuse Beads 48 Colors Assorted in 2 Boxes CC48 for Age 12 and up

Artkal has the best color selection, but you'll have to have it shipped to you. https://www.bakerskidscrafts.com/ is the only US reseller I know of (I'm gonna assume you're in North America). Otherwise, you'll have to order from their main site https://artkalfusebeads.com/ , and a package typically takes 2 weeks to arrive. Free shipping to the US and a few other countries. Artkal beads come in two types of beads. Hard and Soft. (The soft beads are exclusive to ARTKAL and are a special flexible kind of bead). You can get the beads in two sizes as well; Midi (regular sized, 5mm), and mini (2.6 mm). I personally use Artkal mini soft beads as my main beads, which is the A-series of beads. Though I do also have some C-series beads (the mini hard beads), and perler mini beads. And a small selection of Perler midi beads.

Artkal hard beads (both midi and mini) can be used with Perler brand beads. If you live in the states, you can find bags of perler beads for sell at most craft stores (though limited selection of colors in stock sometimes), and online websites that ship within the US. If you'd like to be able to restock quickly, you might go for the Perler beads, so you can just run to the store and restock when necessary (If you're in North America). You can also take advantage of craft store coupons and sales. And for more variety of colors after you become experienced, you can pair it up with Artkal hard Midi beads (S-series beads).

There are other brands of beads, such as Hama (comes in both midi and mini), and Melty brand beads. I've seen Melty brand beads in some craft stores and even walmarts, but I've never tried them. I just get the feeling they're not going to be as good quality as Perler or Artkal, but I dont know. Hama beads I've never used myself, but I've heard they can melt a bit odd, and while they *can* be used with Perler, they dont melt the same, so they do look off. (again, I dont have personal experience with this)

Overall, if you just want to try the beads, before deciding to commit to the hobby, I suggest you get one or two of the kits. If you're interested in midi beads, I suggest you pick up something like this:

Perler 16 Color tray - $8

if you're interested in the mini hard beads, you can pick up one or more of the Perler mini trays. There are many different trays, each with 8 colors (1000 ish beads each). And they're around $8 to $10 each. The Joanne's Craft store near me sells them.

Perler Mini Tray, Warm colors

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If you want a bigger selection of colors, you can consider these trays:

ARTKAL Mini hard beads, c-series 48 colors kit

or

ARTKAL Mini soft beads, a-series 48 colors kit

or

ARTKAL Midi hard beads, S-series 48 color kit

Whichever kit you get, you'd be best off buying it with an extra bag of black beads, because black is the most used color in beadsprites.

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When choosing mini versus midi, it's just personal preference. I prefer mini, for these reason, 1. they cost less, 2. they take up less space, 3. finished pieces look more detailed. Though for some people, mini beads are too small, and take more concentration to use.

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Sorry for some much text. If you dont happen to live in North America, then possible another brand of beads other than Perler is cheaper and easier to obtain.

What "can" are you referring to? I'm wondering if I didn't overdo it and spend more than I had to.

I started with the "lot" from the Hama website here and the first batch of 48 from Artkal here

For the really simple ones with obvious colors that I can easily match, I just opened it in Paint.Net and turned on grids. For the more complex ones with shades I used BeadMaster found here to get me pretty close and I'd manually change the colors if I felt they were off (and were in some cases)