Libya is a rectangle with a bite taken out of it, and the bite is the whole game. Miss the Gulf of Sidra and you have drawn a slab of the Sahara that could be anyone's.
The shape at a glance
Libya is a wide horizontal mass, about 1.6 times wider than tall, sitting on the Mediterranean between Tunisia and Egypt. The north coast is its only interesting edge: it rises along Tunisia, then dives into the deep round scoop of the Gulf of Sidra before climbing out toward Benghazi and Egypt. Every other border is a straight desert line against six neighbors.
Step by step
- Start with a wide flat box, roughly 1.6 times wider than tall.
- Draw the west border straight, following the lines shared with Tunisia and Algeria.
- Along the north, begin the coast at the Tunisian corner and run it east a short distance.
- Cut the Gulf of Sidra: a deep, wide, round scoop that bites far into the country's middle.
- Climb out of the scoop and carry the coast northeast past Benghazi's bulge toward Egypt.
- Finish with ruler-straight south and east borders against Chad, Niger, Sudan and Egypt.
Mistakes that cost you points
- Forgetting the Gulf of Sidra and drawing a flat Mediterranean coast.
- Making the scoop too shallow — it bites deep into the country's middle.
- Adding wiggles to the desert borders, which are almost entirely straight.
- Swapping Libya's position with Algeria, which lies two countries to the west.
Place it on the map
Libya sits on the Mediterranean between Tunisia and Algeria to the west and Egypt to the east, with Chad, Niger and Sudan along its desert south. It is the big scoop-shaped country directly north of central Africa's belt.
Pro tip: The scoop is your entire score: make it deep and round rather than shallow. A correct Sidra bite with straight borders beats a detailed coast every time.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you draw Libya from memory?
- Start with the overall box — is Libya 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 Libya?
- Libya rates as easy difficulty. A big simple slab with straight desert borders — the one essential feature is the Gulf of Sidra scoop.