Practice · Europe
Portugal
How to draw the flag of Portugal
The flag of Portugal is divided vertically into green at the hoist and red in the fly, with the national coat of arms over an armillary sphere on the division.
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
- dark green —
#046a38 - red —
#da291c - yellow —
#ffe900 - white —
#ffffff - navy blue —
#002d62
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
The bands run vertically, which is exactly where people slip: it is easy to draw the right three colours in the right order and still place them as horizontal stripes. Fix the orientation in your head first, then fill from the hoist (left) outwards.
The disc is the focal point, so its size and position carry real weight. Aim for a diameter of about 50% of the flag's height and centre it slightly towards the hoist rather than dead centre. 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
- 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
Portugal 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.