How to Make Burnt Umber
Dark, warm earth-brown - the classic iron-oxide pigment used since the Italian Renaissance.
Recipe: Iron oxide pigment (PBr7) - or Red + Yellow + Black (5:3:2)
The correct burnt umber is the pigment PBr7 - a calcined natural iron-and-manganese oxide. Every major paint manufacturer sells it. There is no good substitute mixed from primaries, but if you must mix one: red + yellow at 5:3 plus black at 20% gives a workable approximation. Better still: burnt sienna plus ultramarine blue plus a touch of ivory black, which captures more of the warmth and transparency of true burnt umber. The pigment behaves slightly differently across brands - Daniel Smith's burnt umber is warmer than Winsor & Newton's, which is in turn warmer than Golden's. Match the tube to the use case rather than treating burnt umber as one shade.
What Is Burnt Umber?
Burnt umber is one of the most important pigments in the history of Western painting. It is a natural iron-and-manganese earth pigment (Color Index PBr7) extracted historically from the Umbria region of Italy (whence umber), then heated (burnt) to oxidise the iron and shift the colour from the cooler raw umber to the warmer red-brown burnt umber. It has been used continuously since at least the 15th century and appears in nearly every Italian, Dutch, and Flemish Old Master painting. The classic 17th-century Dutch portrait shadow tones are mostly burnt umber over raw umber. The pigment is exceptionally permanent, opaque-to-transparent depending on grind, and dries fast in oil (a property that made it the standard underpainting pigment from Caravaggio through the academic 19th century). Wikipedia gives burnt umber at #8A3324. The pigment is too important and too varied between brands to mix from primaries unless absolutely necessary - buy the tube. Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, Golden, and Old Holland all sell reliable burnt umber.
Variations of Burnt Umber
Light Burnt Umber
#A05844
Burnt Umber + Yellow Ochre + White (3:1:2)
Dark Burnt Umber
#5E2718
Burnt Umber + Ultramarine (4:1)
Cool Burnt Umber
#7A3424
Burnt Umber + Payne's Grey (5:1)
Making Burnt Umber in Different Media
Acrylic Paint
Full guide →Golden Heavy Body Burnt Umber, Liquitex Burnt Umber, or Winsor & Newton Galeria Burnt Umber. All three are PBr7 and behave similarly; Golden tends warmer, Liquitex sits in the middle, W&N Galeria runs slightly cooler. Mix on a palette knife.
Oil Paint
Full guide →Old Holland Burnt Umber or Michael Harding Burnt Umber are the premium options. Both dry fast (12-24 hours) and were historically used for underpainting. In oil, burnt umber glazes beautifully over a yellow ochre underpainting for Old Master shadow effects.
Watercolour
Full guide →Daniel Smith Burnt Umber is the canonical watercolour version - high pigment load, granulating, transparent at dilution. Winsor & Newton Professional Burnt Umber is slightly less granular. Both are PBr7 and lightfast.
Food Colouring
Full guide →Burnt umber is not a typical food-colouring target. For wood-effect or gingerbread-house tile fondant: 3 drops red + 2 drops yellow + 2 drops blue + 1 teaspoon of Dutch-process cocoa per cup of fondant. Better suited to royal-icing wood-grain work than buttercream.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- 1Substituting burnt sienna for burnt umber - they are different pigments with different behaviour. Burnt sienna is warmer and more transparent; burnt umber is darker and more opaque. They are not interchangeable.
- 2Mixing burnt umber from black + red without yellow - produces a flat purple-brown rather than the warm umber tone. Always include yellow ochre or yellow oxide.
- 3Treating burnt umber as a finished shadow colour - in oil and acrylic it is most powerful when glazed over a contrasting underpainting, not used flat at full strength.
- 4Overmixing with cool blues like phthalo - shifts burnt umber toward the cooler raw umber zone. Use ultramarine or French ultramarine for adjustments instead.
Burnt Umber Mixing FAQ
How do you make burnt umber?
You buy it. Burnt umber is a single natural pigment, Colour Index PBr7, a calcined iron-and-manganese earth, and every major manufacturer sells it in acrylic, oil, and watercolour. If you have no tube, the primaries approximation is red and yellow at 5:3 with black at about 20% of the total, deepened with a touch of ultramarine. It will read as burnt umber at a glance and behave nothing like it under a glaze.
What two colors make burnt umber?
Burnt sienna and ultramarine blue. Two tubes get much closer than three primaries do, because burnt sienna already carries the warm iron-oxide red that black-and-red mixes cannot fake. Start at roughly 3:1 burnt sienna to ultramarine and add a trace of ivory black only if the result is still too light.
What is the difference between burnt umber and raw umber?
Roasting. Both are the same pigment, PBr7, from the same iron-and-manganese earth. Raw umber is the pigment as dug: cooler, slightly greenish, more transparent. Burnt umber has been heated, which oxidises the iron and shifts it warmer and redder. They are visibly different colours and are not interchangeable in a mix.
What is the hex code for burnt umber?
#8A3324, which is red 138, green 51, blue 36. Burnt umber is not a CSS colour keyword, so there is no single authoritative value the way there is for tan; #8A3324 is the Wikipedia reference and the value this site uses throughout. Tube colour varies noticeably between manufacturers, so treat any hex for an earth pigment as an average rather than a target. Reviewed 7 September 2026.
Try It in the Mixer
Caramel
RGB(204, 122, 120)
Paint mode uses an approximate RYB subtractive model. Results are a close approximation - actual pigment mixing varies by brand and opacity.
Pre-loaded with the Burnt Umber recipe. Adjust the sliders to fine-tune.
Related Shades
Colour recipes are approximations. Real pigment mixing varies by brand, opacity, and surface. Always test on a sample first.