Orange Pigments Overview
What do you think of whenever you see Orange? Some associate orange with confidence, courage and sacrifice. Others see this loud, vibrant hue as an urgent warning for present or potential danger.
Until recent times, orange wasn’t seen as a separate colour in its own right but as a variant of red or yellow.
Some orange pigments are now long forgotten, having been replaced by superior synthetic versions. Among the historical oranges are: Dutch orange, saffron, amber, minium, nude, orpiment, and chrome orange.
This post focuses on the professional-quality orange pigments you can easily find in an art supply store.
Important Notes:
- I include paint brands that use only a single pigment
- Paint names can be deceiving. What’s important is where a paint is found on the colour wheel and what its chemical makeup is (represented by the Pigment Number)
- With earth pigments used for oil paints, qualities such as hue, transparency, and oil absorption can vary widely depending on the ratio of iron oxide to hydrated iron oxide, clay content, particle size, impurities, additives, fillers, and other mineral content.
- I’m “rounding up” the manufacturers’ published Munsell Notations to the closest chip found in the Munsell Book of Color.
Table of Contents
Permanent Orange
Pigment Number: PO73, PO62
Munsell Notations by Brand
- Gamblin: 2.5 YR 6/16 (PO62)
- Michael Harding: 10R 5/18 (PO73)
Permanent Orange is a light, bright, high-chroma orange that has a “reddish shade”. The Michael Harding version appears as the highest chroma red-orange in oils for the hue 10R. It is often on my palette when I’m mixing red-orange flesh tones.
Cadmium Orange
Pigment Number: PO 20
Munsell Notations by Brand
- Gamblin: 5YR 7/16
- Williamsburg: 2.5YR 6/18
- Michael Harding: 10R 6/15
- Rublev: 10R 6/14
- Old Holland: 10R 6/18
An alternative to Cadmium Orange is Pyrrol Orange (PO73) offered by Williamsburg and Old Holland.
Indian Yellow
Pigment Number: PY83
Munsell Notations by Brand
- Gamblin: 5YR 5/12
- Williamsburg: 5YR 7/18
- Michael Harding: 2.5YR 6/18
For me, Indian Yellow is a very powerful tinter with a high chroma. A little goes a long, long way when if I’m using it to mix flesh. It’s not an easy pigment to manage in mixtures.
What is sold now is a synthetic pigment. The original was composed of uric acid, which was made by warming the urine of Indian cows fed on mango leaves.
Orange Ochre
Pigment Number: PY43
Munsell Notations by Brand
- Williamsburg: 5YR 4/6
- Rublev: 5YR 4/8
Orange Ochre is one of my favourites for mixing flesh tones. I like the fact that it’s a mid-chroma orange with low tinting power. It plays nicely with other ochres and umbers.
It’s based on a natural iron oxide hydroxide mineral.
Raw Sienna
Pigment Number: PY43
Munsell Notations by Brand
- Gamblin: 5YR 5/6
- Williamsburg: 7.5YR 4/6
- Michael Harding: 7.5YR 4/2
- Rublev: Italian Sienna 10YR 5/6, French Sienna 2.5Y 3/5,
- Old Holland: Deep 5YR 5/8, Light 7.5YR 5/8
Raw Sienna is a staple on my palette for mixing yellowish areas of flesh (5YR to 10YR) with a mid-range value (4 to 6). It mixes well with white and tends to be transparent or semi-transparent, making it great for glazing too. Since its tinting strength is low, you can use it to reduce the chroma of more powerful orange pigments such as Permanent Orange.
Raw Sienna consists primarily of an iron oxide earth pigment. In its natural state, it’s yellowish-brown. Until recently, paint brands labelled the pigment as PBr7 but more of them are classifying this earth pigment as PY43.
It is darker (and more transparent) than yellow ochre because of the presence of manganese oxide. But raw sienna is also lighter than raw umber, which has more manganese oxide in it.
Some brands make a distinction in the source raw sienna they use. French raw sienna is yellower and darker than Italian raw sienna because its composition is slightly different.
Resource Links:
Natural Pigments article: “Mastering Raw Sienna: Advanced Techniques and Insights for Professional Painters”.
Burnt Umber
Pigment Number: PBr7
Munsell Notations by Brand
- Gamblin: 5YR 2/2
- Williamsburg: 10YR 2/2
- Michael Harding: 7.5Y 1/2 (PBr6)
- Rublev: French Burnt Umber: 2.75YR 3/2; Cyprus Burnt Umber 7YR 1/2; Cyprus Burnt Umber Warm PBr7 2.5YR 3/2
- Old Holland: 5YR 2/2
Additional Qualities:
- Fast drying
- Very absorbent because it is essentially clay that has been heated up to make a redder pigment.
Umber is a natural mixture of iron and manganese oxides and hydroxides. Its earth tones vary depending on the amount of the iron and manganese compounds. For a description of umbers and how burnt umber relates to other umbers, visit the Pigment Through the Ages website.
Burnt umber’s highly absorbent quality is often blamed for the sinking-in effect one might see in dark passages of a painting. Dry areas painted with burnt umber might appear lighter and duller (“matte”) than when the paint was wet.
Among the ways you can avoid the sinking-in effect is by painting thinly and painting on less absorbent substrates. You can also improve Burnt Umber’s tendency to sink-in by adding a very small drop of stand oil or bodied oil (Some companies, such as Natural Pigments/Rublev add some bodied oil to their Burnt Umber).
Another strike against Burnt Umber: it’s sensitivity to changes in humidity. It can shrink and expand, leading to cracking on stretched canvas supports. (Source: conservator Marion Mecklenburg)
Alternatives:
Do you need an alternative to Burnt Umber? You could try mixing Mars Brown plus a black to match the hue and value of a burnt umber. Mars Black or Bone Black can be a good match for the hue and value. The latter is less opaque, with lower tinting strength, and dries more slowly.
You could also mix Transparent Oxide Red and Phthalocyanine Green to produce a range of dark, transparent browns.
My quick fix is mix Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue for an opaque, high chroma brown.
You can also alter the value and opacity of your burnt umber alternatives with a touch of Cadmium Yellow or Cadmium Red.