How to Mix Burnt Umber in Watercolor

A deep, cool-warm brown. Fast-drying in oil and endlessly mixable. This guide gives you the pigment ratios that land on #5A3320 in watercolor, using the same solver that powers the Chromilla mixer.

Target

Burnt Umber

#5A3320

Mixed result

97% match

From these pigments

#5C341E

Pigment recipe

Checked August 2026

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

1. Burnt Umber
PBr7
90%
2. Ultramarine Blue
PB29
10%

What colors make Burnt Umber?

Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue, in roughly a 90:10 ratio.

How to make Burnt Umber in watercolor

Start with Burnt Umber at about 90% as your watercolor base, then work in Ultramarine Blue in the order above. Adjust in 5% steps until the swatch reads #5A3320.

Why mix Burnt Umber instead of buying it

Mixing Burnt Umber yourself lets you approximate an expensive or hard to find tube from pigments you already own, match Burnt Umber 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 Burnt Umber 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 Burnt Umber + watercolor 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.