Mixing recipe
How to mix burnt orange
Target
#C9622E
Recipe mixes to #C8693A
Burnt orange is an orange with earth in it. Yellow Ochre is the biggest component, Cadmium Yellow lifts it, and Cadmium Red takes it from ochre to orange. The ochre is what makes it burnt rather than bright. Three tubes from a common box.
The recipe
Step by step
Build the pile from the biggest, lightest component and work toward the strongest tinter. Check the pile against each swatch before moving on.
- Start with 5 parts Yellow Ochrepile #B8813F
- Work in 4 parts Cadmium Yellowpile #C39330
- Work in 3 parts Cadmium Redpile #C8693A
A simpler mix
Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Red, five to one, is the two-tube route. It is duller and a point further off, closer to a terracotta. Use it for autumn leaves in shadow or a weathered surface; the three-paint mix is the one for a clean burnt orange.
What goes wrong
The red is the last step and the one to go slowly on: three parts in twelve is already a lot, and more pushes the mix to a red-orange. If the result looks too yellow, add red in halves. Do not darken it with umber or black, which turns it to rust; more ochre is the way to a deeper burnt orange.
Related colors
Results vary with brand, lighting and medium. Acrylic dries a touch darker than it looks wet. Treat this as a mixing aid, not a lab instrument: it tells you which tubes to reach for and roughly in what proportion. Fine-tune the last stretch by eye.