Asia · Southern Asia
How to draw India from memory
India is a single continuous landmass, roughly as wide as it is tall. Lock that proportion in before you worry about any individual stretch of border. It ranks among the hardest countries to draw: the border carries far more detail than a freehand stroke can capture, so anything above 50 is a strong result.
- Difficulty
- hard
- Population
- 1.37 bn
- Code
- IND
Draw India
Practice · draw from memory
India
A four-step strategy for India
- 01
Start by fixing the overall footprint. India is close to square overall, so a lopsided sketch loses points fast.
- 02
Anchor one unmistakable feature — the straightest border section or the sharpest cape — and draw outward from it in a single continuous stroke.
- 03
Close the loop back to where you started. An open shape gets filled unpredictably and drags your score down.
- 04
Submit, read the nine-sector grid, and redraw immediately. The sector readout names the region you under-drew, and a second attempt typically gains 10–20 points.
Top scores for India
Nobody has submitted a score for India yet. Draw it above and you are first on this board.
Full leaderboard →Quick facts
- Continent
- Asia
- Subregion
- Southern Asia
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 5.35
Three things that go wrong when people sketch India
Each one is measured off the outline the game scores, not copied from a reference atlas: the proportions, the straight sections and the way the shape breaks into pieces are all properties of the coordinates your stroke gets compared against.
Not one straight edge to anchor the shape
The longest unbroken run in the whole outline is under 8% of the perimeter, and the coast folds back 1.63× on the smooth ring that would wrap it. Choose two deep inlets and one sharp promontory as anchors, and let everything between them stay approximate.
Both ends are pinched
The widest slice across the centre is 5.3× broader than either the northern or the southern edge. Place the two narrow ends early and the bulge between them cannot come out wrong.
India is close to square
Width against height comes out at 0.97 to 1, so the shape neither runs away sideways nor stretches vertically. Set that box first: with a near-square country almost every lost point comes from the coast detail inside it, not the footprint.
Answer key: the real shape of India
- Box on the canvas
- 429 × 440 units
- Width to height
- 0.97 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- Nothing over 8% of the perimeter
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.63× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn India at least once. Seeing the shape first replaces the recall the score is meant to measure with tracing, and tracing always scores higher than remembering.
Why India is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of India. It scales and centres both your stroke and the real border into the same box, fills them, and measures how much of the two shapes overlap relative to their combined area. That means you are never punished for drawing India small, off to one side, or rotated slightly — only for getting the shape itself wrong. The nine-sector grid then splits the real border into a 3×3 mesh and reports coverage per cell, which is how it can tell you that you lost the whole coastline rather than just handing you a number.
India by the numbers
India covers 3,287,590 km², which makes it the 7th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 2nd largest in Asia. The capital is New Delhi at about 20°N, 77°E, and it sits in Southern Asia. It touches Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to India: its land neighbours
Size is what the outline has to fill, so comparing the countries that share this border side by side is the fastest way to get the proportions into your head before you draw.
| Country | Area | Population | Capital | Pieces | vs India |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indiathis page | 3,287,590 km² | 1.37 bn | New Delhi | 1 | — |
 Bangladesh | 147,570 km² | 163.0 m | Dhaka | 1 | 0.04× |
 Bhutan | 38,394 km² | 763 k | Thimphu | 1 | 0.01× |
 Myanmar | 676,578 km² | 54.0 m | Naypyidaw | 1 | 0.21× |
 China | 9,706,961 km² | 1.40 bn | Beijing | 1 | 2.95× |
 Nepal | 147,181 km² | 28.6 m | Kathmandu | 1 | 0.04× |
 Pakistan | 881,912 km² | 216.6 m | Islamabad | 1 | 0.27× |
Draw these next
Countries near India share border conventions and coastline styles, which makes them the most useful follow-up practice.
Working through one country at a time is slow. Take the blank map of asia and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
India drawing questions
How big is India?
India covers 3,287,590 km², ranking 7th of 190 countries here by land area and 2nd in Asia. About 34% of the area of China.
What is the capital of India?
The capital is New Delhi at about 20°N, 77°E. The game scores the shape of the border rather than the position of any city, so the capital and its coordinates are here to help you place India on a blank map.
Is India hard to draw?
It is rated hard, and carries more outline detail than 79% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 1 landmass, with no straight edge longer than 8% of the perimeter to anchor it.
Which countries border India?
India shares a land border with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.