How to draw the flag of France

The flag of France is a vertical tricolour of navy blue, white and red. Its official proportions are 3:2. Below is how to construct it step by step, with the measurements written as fractions so they work at any size — on paper, on a whiteboard or in an art program. If you would rather test yourself first, you can draw it from memory and get scored.

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Step by step

  1. Start with a rectangle in the proportions 3:2. If you are working on paper, 15 cm wide by 10 cm tall is a convenient size — every measurement below is given as a fraction, so any size works as long as the shape is right.
  2. Divide the width into three equal vertical bands, each a third of the width. From the hoist (left) to the fly, colour them navy blue, white and red.

The colours

These are the shades used in the reference drawing. Official specifications are usually given in Pantone; the hex values below are the closest common screen equivalents.

The mistakes people make

One more thing worth knowing: France belongs to the red-white-blue tricolours and the vertical tricolours. Stripe order and direction are the whole difference here — get those right before worrying about shade. If you are drawing several flags, do the ones in this group back to back — the differences stick far better that way.

Test yourself

Reading how a flag is built and being able to reproduce it from memory are different skills, and the gap between them is bigger than most people expect. Draw the flag of France from memory and the game will score how close you got, or try today's flag if you want to be surprised.

Other flags to draw