Brazil is half a continent, so people assume they can draw half a continent — then the northeastern shoulder comes out lopsided and the whole thing looks like a deflating balloon. Its outline is subtler than its reputation.
The shape at a glance
Brazil is a huge, roughly diamond-shaped mass, nearly as wide as it is tall, dominating the eastern two-thirds of South America. The northeast coast pushes out a prominent bulge toward Africa — the easternmost point of the Americas. From there the coast sweeps southwest while the western border swells deep into the Amazon basin, and the whole shape tapers to a point at Uruguay in the south.
Step by step
- Start with the northeastern bulge on the Atlantic coast — the big shoulder that sticks farthest east toward Africa.
- Sweep the coast southwest from that bulge in one long gentle arc toward Rio de Janeiro's latitude.
- Push the western edge deep into the continent: the Amazon basin bulge where Brazil touches Peru and Colombia.
- Taper everything southward into a narrowing cone ending at the Uruguayan border.
- Keep the top edge wide and rounded where the Amazon mouth and the Guianas sit.
- Round off the southern tip rather than pointing it — Brazil ends bluntly at the Rio Grande do Sul.
Mistakes that cost you points
- Drawing Brazil as a rectangle and losing both the northeastern bulge and the southern taper.
- Making the northeast shoulder too small — it is the most distinctive feature of the whole outline.
- Ending the south in a sharp point instead of the blunted edge at Uruguay.
- Squashing the country vertically; Brazil is enormous in both dimensions and the Amazon bulge needs room.
Place it on the map
Brazil touches nearly every country in South America — ten of them, from French Guiana and Venezuela in the north to Argentina and Uruguay in the south. If you can place the Andes along the west coast, Brazil is everything east of them.
Pro tip: Nail the northeastern bulge first and proportion everything off it — it's the anchor the eye checks. And don't oversharpen the southern cone: players who draw it pointed lose overlap against Brazil's actually blunt base.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you draw Brazil from memory?
- Start with the overall box — is Brazil wider than tall or the reverse — then place its signature feature first and build the rest of the outline around it. Finish with the coastline details, then compare against the real border in a free practice round to get a 0-100 score.
- How hard is it to draw Brazil?
- Brazil rates as medium difficulty. The huge round mass is easy to place, but the northeastern bulge and the tapered southern cone need real attention to look right.