Cubans call their island El Cocodrilo, and once you see the crocodile you can't unsee it — a long green reptile floating between Florida and Central America. Everyone draws the body; almost nobody remembers the kinked tail curling south at the eastern end.
The shape at a glance
Cuba is extremely long and thin, roughly ten times wider than tall, lying horizontally across the Caribbean just south of Florida. The western end is a rounded snout, the middle narrows into an undulating back with bays on both sides, and the eastern third kinks southeast like a lifted tail. The Isle of Youth floats off the south-central coast as a satellite blob.
Step by step
- Start with a very long horizontal body — draw it thinner and longer than your instincts say.
- Round the western end into the snout, pointing toward Mexico's Yucatan.
- Undulate the north and south coasts gently through the middle — the back of the crocodile.
- Kink the eastern third southeast, lifting like a tail toward Hispaniola.
- Taper the far eastern tip rather than rounding it.
- Add the Isle of Youth as a small rounded island off the south-central coast, in the crocodile's belly curve.
Mistakes that cost you points
- Drawing Cuba too thick — it's one of the thinnest large islands on Earth.
- Running the island straight instead of giving the eastern end its southeast kink.
- Forgetting the Isle of Youth floating off the southern coast.
- Making it too short; Cuba stretches over 1,200 kilometers, nearly the width of the Caribbean.
Place it on the map
Cuba lies just south of Florida, with the Bahamas to its northeast, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) off its eastern tip, and Mexico's Yucatan across the water to the west. It's the great barrier island of the Caribbean.
Pro tip: Length is everything: underdraw the length by a third and you lose a third of your overlap no matter how pretty the coasts are. Sketch the full span first as a faint guide, then hang the thin body on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you draw Cuba from memory?
- Start with the overall box — is Cuba 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 Cuba?
- Cuba rates as medium difficulty. The long crocodile silhouette is iconic, but its extreme thinness and the kinked eastern end are easy to butcher.