Asia · Western Asia
How to draw Iraq from memory
Iraq 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. Its border is simple by world standards, which makes it a good place to build confidence — and also means a low score here has nowhere to hide.
- Difficulty
- easy
- Population
- 39.3 m
- Code
- IRQ
Draw Iraq
Practice · draw from memory
Iraq
A four-step strategy for Iraq
- 01
Start by fixing the overall footprint. Iraq 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 Iraq
Nobody has submitted a score for Iraq yet. Draw it above and you are first on this board.
Full leaderboard →Quick facts
- Continent
- Asia
- Subregion
- Western Asia
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 1.92
Three things that go wrong when people sketch Iraq
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.
The south edge is a ruler line, not a coast
About 10% of the perimeter runs in one unbroken direction along the south. Rivers and capes do not do that; a border was drawn on a map. Straighten it deliberately — a wobbly line there throws the whole bounding box.
Iraq is close to square
Width against height comes out at 0.98 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.
Close the loop before adding detail
Iraq occupies a 432×440 unit box on the game canvas. Fill that box with one continuous closed stroke first: the scorer compares filled area, so an open outline loses the interior it never enclosed.
Answer key: the real shape of Iraq
- Box on the canvas
- 432 × 440 units
- Width to height
- 0.98 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- 10% of the perimeter, along the south
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.2× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn Iraq 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 Iraq is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of Iraq. 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 Iraq 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 eastern edge rather than just handing you a number.
Iraq by the numbers
Iraq covers 438,317 km², which makes it the 57th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 15th largest in Asia. The capital is Baghdad at about 33°N, 44°E, and it sits in Western Asia. It touches Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to Iraq: 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 Iraq |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iraqthis page | 438,317 km² | 39.3 m | Baghdad | 1 | — |
 Iran | 1,648,195 km² | 82.9 m | Tehran | 1 | 3.76× |
 Jordan | 89,342 km² | 10.1 m | Amman | 1 | 0.2× |
 Kuwait | 17,818 km² | 4.2 m | Kuwait City | 2 | 0.04× |
 Saudi Arabia | 2,149,690 km² | 34.3 m | Riyadh | 1 | 4.9× |
 Syria | 185,180 km² | 17.1 m | Damascus | 1 | 0.42× |
 Turkey | 783,562 km² | 83.4 m | Ankara | 2 | 1.79× |
Draw these next
Countries near Iraq 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.
Iraq drawing questions
How big is Iraq?
Iraq covers 438,317 km², ranking 57th of 190 countries here by land area and 15th in Asia. About 20% of the area of Saudi Arabia.
What is the capital of Iraq?
The capital is Baghdad at about 33°N, 44°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 Iraq on a blank map.
Is Iraq hard to draw?
It is rated easy, and carries more outline detail than 22% of the 190 borders in this game. The shape has to be placed as 1 landmass, with about 10% of the perimeter running dead straight along the south.
Which countries border Iraq?
Iraq shares a land border with Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.