Mixing guide
How to mix olive green paint: golden, deep and khaki variants
By Marco, painter and founder of chromilla · Last checked August 2026
Olive is a green pulled toward its complement. Start from a warm yellow and a warm blue instead of a cool, clean pair, and the green comes out dusty and golden by design rather than by accident.
The core olive mix
Two tubes, warm-biased on purpose. A cool blue here gives you a clean spring green instead, so lean on Ultramarine, not Phthalo or Cerulean.
- #7A7A36
Olive green
- Cadmium Yellow3
- Ultramarine Blue1
Warm yellow plus warm blue gives a duller, golden-olive green by design, not a failed bright green.
Golden olive, olive drab and khaki
From the core mix, push lighter and warmer for a golden olive, or deeper and grayer for olive drab and khaki.
- #CDAC5A
Golden olive
- Cadmium Yellow55%
- Titanium White20%
- Ultramarine Blue15%
- Yellow Ochre10%
Sits close to mustard. Good for autumn foliage and warm highlights on an olive drab base.
- #927B4C
Deep olive / olive drab
- Cadmium Yellow40%
- Ultramarine Blue25%
- Burnt Umber25%
- Titanium White10%
The military olive drab most painters mean when they say 'olive.'
- #C2B2A0
Khaki
- Titanium White55%
- Yellow Ochre25%
- Ultramarine Blue12%
- Burnt Umber8%
Lighter and grayer than olive drab. Reads as fabric or dry grass rather than foliage.
Push it warmer, cooler or lighter
- Warmer / more golden: more Cadmium Yellow or Yellow Ochre, a little at a time.
- Cooler / more khaki-gray: more Ultramarine Blue and a touch of white.
- Lighter without losing the olive character: add white and a touch more yellow together, white alone will gray it out.
Why your olive turns into plain gray-brown
If the mix collapses into a flat gray-brown instead of a dusty green, the yellow and blue have fully neutralized each other and a third earth pigment has taken over the mix. Pull back to just Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine Blue, get the green you want first, then add Burnt Umber or Yellow Ochre in small amounts to push the variant.
Try it on your tubes
Get the exact olive for your tubes
Tell Chromilla your yellow and blue and paste the target hex. It returns the ratio calibrated for your brand.
Open Chromilla →Frequently asked questions
- What two colors make olive green?
- A warm yellow (Cadmium Yellow) and a warm, violet-leaning blue (Ultramarine Blue), roughly 3 parts yellow to 1 part blue. The warm bias on both tubes is what makes the green dusty instead of bright.
- What's the difference between olive green and olive drab?
- Olive green is the base two-pigment mix. Olive drab adds Burnt Umber and a touch more blue for the deeper, grayer military tone. Khaki lightens that further with white.
- Why does my olive look muddy instead of dusty?
- A third pigment has probably crept into the mix. Rebuild from just Cadmium Yellow and Ultramarine Blue to re-establish the green, then reintroduce Burnt Umber or Yellow Ochre in small, deliberate steps.