How to Make Raw Umber

What Is Raw Umber?

Raw umber is the unheated version of the same iron-and-manganese earth pigment that becomes burnt umber when roasted. It has the same Color Index designation (PBr7) but behaves differently: cooler, slightly greenish, more granulating in watercolour, fast-drying in oil (in fact, even faster than burnt umber - among the fastest-drying oil colours), and slightly more transparent. Raw umber is the canonical underpainting pigment of Western oil painting. Caravaggio used it; Rembrandt used it; the Italian academic tradition through the 19th century used it as the foundation under portraits and figure studies. In contemporary acrylic and watercolour, raw umber is the go-to neutral mid-brown for landscape shadows, animal markings, and any subject that needs an earthy, low-saturation brown without the warmth of burnt umber. Wikipedia gives raw umber at #826644 in the original earth-pigment value; this site uses the more commonly searched #735340, which is closer to a tube-paint average across the major brands.

Variations of Raw Umber

Making Raw Umber in Different Media

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• 1Substituting burnt umber for raw umber - burnt umber is warmer and redder. They are visibly different and not interchangeable.
• 2Adding too much red to the mix - shifts raw umber toward burnt umber territory. Keep red below 15% of the total.
• 3Using cool yellow (lemon yellow, cadmium yellow light) instead of yellow ochre - shifts the mix toward green-grey rather than earthy raw umber.
• 4Treating raw umber as muddy - in skilled hands it is one of the most useful underpainting pigments in any medium. The trick is to use it as a layer, not a final colour.