Everyone draws the United States with swagger and then watches their score sink on the details. Florida comes out as a limp noodle, Maine vanishes entirely, and Alaska — nearly a third of the country's land — gets squeezed into the corner like an apology.
The shape at a glance
The contiguous 48 states form a big horizontal block about 1.7 times wider than tall, with a fairly straight northern border and a messier southern one. Florida hangs off the bottom-right corner like a finger pointing at Cuba, and the Maine corner pushes northeast higher than people expect. Alaska is a huge triangular mass in the northwest with a long skinny panhandle running southeast, and Hawaii is a scatter of tiny dots in the mid-Pacific.
Step by step
- Start with the big Lower 48 box: wide, roughly a 5:3 ratio, with an almost ruler-straight top edge along the 49th parallel with Canada.
- Push the northeast corner up into Maine — a blocky wedge that pokes higher than the rest of the top border.
- Hang Florida from the bottom-right: a long thin peninsula angling southeast, ending roughly level with the bottom of Texas.
- Draw the southern border as a dip: Texas bulges down in the middle with the Rio Grande kink, then rises back toward California.
- Sketch Alaska separately as a large triangle in the northwest, and add its skinny panhandle trailing southeast along Canada's coast.
- Add Hawaii as four or five small dots drifting southwest, far off the California coast — don't glue them to the mainland.
Mistakes that cost you points
- Drawing Florida too short and stubby — it reaches surprisingly far south, almost to Cuba's latitude.
- Forgetting that Maine juts northeast of everything else and is the easternmost point of the country.
- Shrinking Alaska, which in reality is wider than Texas and would cover much of the West if overlaid.
- Making the Texas southern tip too blunt; the Rio Grande valley gives it a distinct downward beak.
Place it on the map
The United States sits between Canada on the north — along the longest undefended border in the world — and Mexico to the south, with oceans on both flanks. If Canada and Mexico are placed, the Lower 48 fills the gap between them.
Pro tip: Draw the Lower 48 first and get its box right before touching Alaska — most IoU points live in the contiguous mass. Then give Florida its full length; that skinny peninsula is the single cheapest way to gain or lose five points.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How do you draw United States from memory?
- Start with the overall box — is United States 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 United States?
- United States rates as hard difficulty. The Lower 48 is manageable, but Alaska's panhandle, Hawaii, and Florida's peninsula turn this into a three-part exam.