Europe · Northern Europe
How to draw Ireland from memory
Ireland 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
- 4.9 m
- Code
- IRL
Draw Ireland
Practice · draw from memory
Ireland
A four-step strategy for Ireland
- 01
Start by fixing the overall footprint. Ireland 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 Ireland
Nobody has submitted a score for Ireland yet. Draw it above and you are first on this board.
Full leaderboard →Quick facts
- Continent
- Europe
- Subregion
- Northern Europe
- Outline pieces
- 1
- Detail score
- 5.64
Three things that go wrong when people sketch Ireland
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 1.92× 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.
It narrows sharply toward the north
The outline is 2.6× wider at the bottom of the shape than at the top, so the broad part belongs in the south. Most failed sketches here put the wide section at the wrong end.
Ireland is taller than it is wide
The finished outline holds a ratio of about 0.67 to 1, a vertical shape. Most failed attempts come from defaulting to a squarish blob — and unlike position, aspect ratio is never normalised away by the scorer.
Answer key: the real shape of Ireland
- Box on the canvas
- 294 × 440 units
- Width to height
- 0.67 : 1
- Separate landmasses
- 1
- Longest straight run
- Nothing over 8% of the perimeter
- Coast against silhouette
- 1.92× the wrapping outline
Open it after you have drawn Ireland 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 Ireland is scored this way
Country Drawing does not compare your sketch to a picture of Ireland. 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 Ireland 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.
Ireland by the numbers
Ireland covers 70,273 km², which makes it the 117th largest of 190 countries in the game and the 22nd largest in Europe. The capital is Dublin at about 53°N, 8°W, and it sits in Northern Europe. It touches United Kingdom, and 100% of its area sits in one main landmass. The rest of the perimeter is water.
Next to Ireland: 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 Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irelandthis page | 70,273 km² | 4.9 m | Dublin | 1 | — |
 United Kingdom | 242,900 km² | 66.8 m | London | 2 | 3.46× |
Draw these next
Countries near Ireland 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 europe and label the whole region from memory — it shows you which neighbours you have never actually seen.
Ireland drawing questions
How big is Ireland?
Ireland covers 70,273 km², ranking 117th of 190 countries here by land area and 22nd in Europe. About 29% of the area of United Kingdom.
What is the capital of Ireland?
The capital is Dublin at about 53°N, 8°W. 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 Ireland on a blank map.
Is Ireland hard to draw?
It is rated hard, and carries more outline detail than 81% 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 Ireland?
Ireland shares a land border with United Kingdom. The remaining perimeter is coast, which is the part that usually costs points.