Draw Utah Outline from Memory
How well do you know The Beehive State? Draw Utah from memory and score 0–100 based on how accurately you sketch its distinctive outline.
More US States to Draw
Why Utah Looks the Way It Does
Utah's shape is the ghost of a much bolder proposal. In 1849 Mormon settlers petitioned for a colossal "State of Deseret" stretching from the Rockies to the Pacific — nearly a third of today's Lower 48. Congress instead created the Utah Territory in 1850, and over the following decades carved away Colorado, Wyoming, and Nevada piece by piece, leaving the territory boxed into the rectangle it occupies today.
The notch in the northeast corner is the map's quiet confession that lines were moved more than once. Utah Territory originally included the southwest corner of what became Wyoming; in 1868, when Wyoming Territory was organized, Congress redrew the line to hand that corner over, chopping the clean square bite out of Utah's top-right. It's one of the rare borders drawn to take land from an existing territory rather than to divide new land.
Inside those straight edges, the land is anything but. The state holds the Great Basin's closed basins — rivers that end in salt flats instead of the sea — and ancient Lake Bonneville's shoreline terraces still ring the mountains above Salt Lake City. But the border ignores all of it: Utah is a rectangle because a Congress two thousand miles away preferred arithmetic to watersheds, and the watershed had to make do.
Quick Facts: Utah
- Capital
- Salt Lake City
- Nickname
- The Beehive State
- Statehood
- 1896
- Area
- 212,998 km²
What is "Drawing Utah Outline from Memory"?
Drawing Utah from memory means sketching the Beehive State's border on a blank canvas without looking at a map. Focus on the state's distinctive features and overall proportions — that's what pushes your accuracy score up.
Utah became a state in 1896 and is rated ★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — a manageable, compact shape for a first try. When you hit Reveal, your sketch is scored 0–100 against the real border, so every attempt teaches you something about the outline.
Utah is one of the most rectangular states in America — straight top, straight bottom, straight left side — with a single exception: a square notch cut out of the top-right corner, where Wyoming's southwest edge takes a bite. The bottom edge dips into a short diagonal where the state meets Nevada's pointed toe.
How to Draw Utah from Memory
Step 01
Draw the rectangle first: roughly as tall as it is wide, or just slightly taller. Three of the four sides — top, bottom, left — are single straight lines, so this is one of the easiest silhouettes on the whole site to nail on the first try.
Step 02
Cut the notch: at the top-right corner, carve out a clean right-angled bite, a square chunk a bit smaller than the corner itself. That missing piece belongs to Wyoming, and drawing it correctly is the single detail that makes a Utah sketch read as Utah rather than Colorado.
Step 03
Add the small flourish at the bottom-right: where the state meets Nevada's pointed southern toe, the bottom edge steps in a short diagonal before resuming its straight run. Keep it subtle — the rectangle should stay dominant.
A near-perfect rectangle with one clean bite: three straight sides and a notch cut out of the top-right corner, like a puzzle piece for Wyoming.
How Utah Is Scored
When you hit Reveal & compare, your sketch is measured against Utah's real border, point by point, in the same canvas space. Three numbers come back:
Matched — the share of the real border your drawing covered. 100% means you traced every part of the outline.
Extra — how much of your drawing fell outside the true border. This catches sketches that are too big, mispositioned, or drifting off.
Missed — the border you didn't reach, the flip side of Matched.
The three combine into a single 0–100 accuracy score. The rating names give you a target: 80+ is Cartographer, 60+ is Border patrol, 40+ is Getting there, and below 40 is Try again.
Drawing large and roughly centered is the single fastest way to raise your score — a small sketch tucked in a corner overlaps less of the true border, so it scores lower. For Utah, keep the whole outline in frame and let the distinctive parts do the work.
FAQ
- What makes Utah's outline distinctive?
- Utah is one of the most rectangular states in America — straight top, straight bottom, straight left side — with a single exception: a square notch cut out of the top-right corner, where Wyoming's southwest edge takes a bite. The bottom edge dips into a short diagonal where the state meets Nevada's pointed toe.
- How hard is it to draw Utah from memory?
- Utah is rated ★★ out of 4 for drawing difficulty — a manageable, compact shape for a first try. You can score your attempts immediately and watch your accuracy climb with practice.
- Which states border Utah?
- Utah shares its border with 5 US states — Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Nevada are on this site. Drawing a neighbor right after Utah helps anchor both outlines in your memory.
- How is my Utah drawing scored?
- Your sketch is compared with Utah's real border, point by point, in the same canvas space. Matched is the share of the border you covered, Extra is how much of your drawing fell outside it, and Missed is the border you didn't reach. The three combine into a single 0–100 accuracy score.
- Can I draw Utah on mobile?
- Yes — Utah works on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Draw with your finger on touchscreens; no app download is required and it runs directly in your browser.