How to Mix Olive Drab in Watercolor

A dull, military olive drab. This guide gives you the pigment ratios that land on #6B6437 in watercolor, using the same solver that powers the Chromilla mixer.

Target

Olive Drab

#6B6437

Mixed result

96% match

From these pigments

#6E6434

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. Yellow Ochre
PY43
96%
2. Ivory Black
PBk9
4%

What colors make Olive Drab?

Yellow Ochre and Ivory Black, in roughly a 96:4 ratio.

How to make Olive Drab in watercolor

Start with Yellow Ochre at about 96% as your watercolor base, then work in Ivory Black in the order above. Adjust in 5% steps until the swatch reads #6B6437.

Why mix Olive Drab instead of buying it

Mixing Olive Drab yourself lets you approximate an expensive or hard to find tube from pigments you already own, match Olive Drab 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

Reaching for more black to deepen it kills the chroma, add the dark modifier already in the recipe instead.

Get this recipe for your paint brand

Open the live mixer with Olive Drab + 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.