Start with a Teapot
An Unexpected Guide to the Art of Drawing
by Enric Lax, trans. by Daniel Hahn
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Pub Date Sep 09 2025 | Archive Date Jun 30 2025
Lerner Publishing Group | Gecko Press ™
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Description
Drawing is not very different from riding a bicycle, whistling, or cooking a tortilla: learning any of these things just takes a little practice and a sense of humor.
For example, to draw an elephant, you start with a teapot. Next add eyes and tusks, finish with a tail and four legs . . . ta-da, you’ve got your elephant! And how do you draw a horse? First, draw an elephant.
Start with a Teapot is utmost nonsense and unarguable logic. How do you draw a snail, a stapler, a butterfly, a eukaryotic cell? How do you draw poop? Enric Lax inspires his readers to observe, transform, tell stories and make mistakes—that’s how to draw.
Available Editions
EDITION | Hardcover |
ISBN | 9798765670491 |
PRICE | $21.99 (USD) |
PAGES | 92 |
Available on NetGalley
Featured Reviews

What an adorable, silly, nostalgic book! The progression of drawings, with each one getting sillier, was so much fun! The whole book felt incredibly nostalgic and broke down some classic, easy drawings, while slipping in some hilarious ones.

An extremely creative way to teach someone how to draw.
As the book says, "Start with a Teapot." From there you will learn how to take different components from what you drew previously to make something new. Everything from animals, to items, to places, to plants, and to poop, each drawing borrowing something from the previous image to create a new sketch.
Step 3 of how to draw a horse is terrifyingly hilarious. The drawings are not hyper realistic. They are a quirky cartoon style that reminds me of how cartoons looked in the 90's. I really connected with the frustration felt by the illustrator shared when drawing a car. No matter how I try, it always ends up looking odd. Like a shoebox on wheels. The permission to start again, the acceptance of taking time away from your drawings when you feel hopeless or angry, and the push to continue to create are displayed wonderfully in this book. I really think it's a cute gift for a friend who likes to doodle. It's a book many different age ranges would appreciate, probably from about 7 up.

My cheeks hurt from smiling so hard as I read this! This madcap look at how to draw objects based on other objects gets sillier and sillier. Children will be laughing out loud and arguing with the illustrator as the book is read to them. I recommend it for all ages of children as older kids might like to take on some of the drawing challenges, and everyone will enjoy the sense of humor. I hope to read more books by this author!
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