Practice · Asia
India
How to draw the flag of India
The flag of India is a horizontal tricolour of saffron, white and green, with the navy blue Ashoka Chakra — a 24-spoked wheel — at its centre.
A note on the emblem. This flag carries detail that no one draws accurately from memory in a couple of minutes. Scoring treats it as a broad shape in the right place, so you are judged on the field, the colours and the position of the emblem — not on reproducing its interior.
Colours used
- saffron —
#ff9933 - white —
#ffffff - green —
#138808 - navy blue —
#000080
You do not need to match these hex values exactly. Scoring allows a generous margin on shade because nobody remembers the precise navy of a flag; what it does not forgive is putting the right colour in the wrong place.
How to draw it well
Because the bands run horizontally, the fastest route is one rectangle per band from the top down. Each band is a third of the height, so divide the canvas before you start filling — the most common way to lose points here is drifting proportions, where the top band creeps larger and squeezes the one at the bottom.
The disc is the focal point, so its size and position carry real weight. Aim for a diameter of about 31% of the flag's height and centre it carefully — an off-centre disc is the giveaway. Use the circle tool and drag outwards from the middle.
- Fill the whole canvas with the background or the first stripe — an unpainted margin costs you points.
- Lay in the remaining bands with the rectangle tool, keeping the divisions level.
- Add the central detail last, checking its size against the height of the flag.
- Press Check my flag to see your drawing next to the real one.
Where people lose points on this flag
- Reversing the order of the bands. Half of all lost points on tricolours come from this alone.
- Over-investing in the emblem. It is scored as a shape in the right place, not as artwork — time spent on its interior is time not spent filling the field.
- Leaving a white margin around the edge of the canvas. Unpainted area is scored as wrong colour, so fill right to the borders.
Proportions
India flies its flag at 3:2. The drawing canvas is a fixed shape and scoring compares regions rather than absolute measurements, so you do not need to reproduce the ratio exactly; what matters is that the internal divisions land in the right relative places.