Mixing recipe
How to mix terracotta
Target
#C8673F
Recipe mixes to #CC6940
Terracotta is a dull orange, and the mix is mostly Cadmium Yellow with Cadmium Red. White brings it up to the value of fired clay and a single part of Alizarin Crimson deepens the red without adding more chroma. It is a four-tube mix 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 8 parts Cadmium Yellowpile #FFD500
- Work in 2 parts Cadmium Redpile #EE7432
- Work in 1 part Titanium Whitepile #F48137
- Add 1 part Alizarin Crimsonpile #CC6940Strong tinter. Add it in knife-tip doses and mix fully before adding more.
A simpler mix
Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Red, three to one, is a two-tube route that is a little darker and a little further off. It is the one to use for weathered pots and roof tiles in shadow. The four-paint mix is brighter and better for new terracotta in sun.
What goes wrong
The pile is a clean orange until the last step, and the Alizarin is what turns it to clay. Alizarin is transparent and strong, so a part too much takes the mix toward brick red fast. If it goes too dark, the way back is more Cadmium Yellow and white together; white alone turns it to peach. Alizarin Crimson (flagged by the mixing guide as moving a pile hard for its share) is the paint to be careful with here: it goes in last, a knife-tip at a time, and a little too much cannot be mixed back out.
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.