How to Mix Cadmium Yellow in Acrylic

A dense, opaque mid yellow. Bright, covering, warm-leaning. This guide gives you the pigment ratios that land on #F1C11C in acrylic, using the same solver that powers the Chromilla mixer.

Target

Cadmium Yellow

#F1C11C

Mixed result

98% match

From these pigments

#EDC010

Pigment recipe

Checked August 2026

Ratios calibrated for acrylic. Start with the dominant pigment, add the modifiers in the order below, and adjust in 5% steps to your target swatch.

1. Cadmium Yellow
PY35
83%
2. Burnt Sienna
PBr7
17%

What colors make Cadmium Yellow?

Cadmium Yellow and Burnt Sienna, in roughly a 83:17 ratio.

How to make Cadmium Yellow in acrylic

Start with Cadmium Yellow at about 83% as your acrylic base, then work in Burnt Sienna in the order above. Adjust in 5% steps until the swatch reads #F1C11C.

Why mix Cadmium Yellow instead of buying it

Mixing Cadmium Yellow yourself lets you approximate an expensive or hard to find tube from pigments you already own, match Cadmium Yellow across paint brands whose factory tubes differ, and rebuild the exact color when you run out mid painting. The recipe above is the working starting point.

Common mistakes

Overshooting on Cadmium Yellow is the usual failure, add it in 5% steps and compare against the target between each pass.

Get this recipe for your paint brand

Open the live mixer with Cadmium Yellow + acrylic pre-loaded and calibrate to your tubes.

Open in mixer

Related mixing guides

Pigment mixing is subtractive, so small ratio changes matter. The mixer refines this recipe to your brand and updates on the fly.