How to draw the flag of Portugal

The flag of Portugal is divided vertically into green at the hoist and red in the fly, with the national coat of arms over an armillary sphere on the division. 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 vertical bands of 40% dark green, then 60% red.
  3. Draw a yellow ring, outer radius 25% of the height, inner radius 19%.
  4. Draw a red circle with a radius of 14% of the height (a diameter of 29%), centred 40% of the way across from the hoist — slightly towards the hoist, so it looks centred when the flag flies.
  5. Draw a white circle with a radius of 9% of the height (a diameter of 18%), centred 40% of the way across from the hoist — slightly towards the hoist, so it looks centred when the flag flies.
  6. Add a navy blue rectangle starting 38% across and 46% down, 5% of the width by 9% of the height.

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

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 Portugal 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