How to Mix Amber in Watercolor

A warm orange-gold amber. This guide gives you the pigment ratios that land on #C4802B in watercolour, using the same solver that powers the Chromilla mixer.

Target

Amber

#C4802B

Mixed result

98% match

From these pigments

#C6812E

Pigment recipe

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

1. Yellow Ochre
PY43
61%
2. Burnt Sienna
PBr7
39%

What colours make Amber?

Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna, in roughly a 61:39 ratio.

How to make Amber in watercolour

Start with Yellow Ochre at about 61% as your watercolour base, then work in Burnt Sienna in the order above. Adjust in 5% steps until the swatch reads #C4802B.

Why mix Amber instead of buying it

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

Common mistakes

Overshooting on Yellow Ochre 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 Amber + watercolour 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.