Quick answer
Blue + yellow make green. For a vivid green, use a green-leaning blue and yellow (phthalo blue + lemon yellow). For natural, muted greens, use ultramarine + cadmium yellow, or calm any green with a touch of red or burnt sienna. Yellow ochre + black gives a surprisingly good olive.
On this page
Color bias: why some greens are dull
Pigments are never perfectly "pure" primaries. Every blue leans a little toward green or toward violet, and every yellow leans toward green or toward orange. This lean is called color bias, and it explains most green-mixing frustrations.
- Phthalo blue (green shade) and cerulean lean green. Lemon / Hansa yellow leans green. Mix a green-leaning blue with a green-leaning yellow and you get a clean, vivid green, because nothing in the mixture fights it.
- Ultramarine leans violet (it contains a hint of red), and cadmium yellow medium leans orange (also a hint of red). Mixed together, those hidden reds act like green's complement and partly neutralize it, so you get a muted, olive green.
Neither result is wrong. Vivid greens suit spring leaves and bright accents. Muted greens are often more believable in landscapes. The point is to choose on purpose.
Try it: Mix a green
Open full mixer →How to mix natural greens
Greens straight from the tube, especially phthalo green, often look artificial outdoors. Nature's greens are generally less saturated and more varied: yellow-greens in sunlit grass, blue-greens in distant trees, grey-greens in sage and olive leaves, deep warm greens in shadowed foliage. Some ways to get there:
- Add a touch of red or burnt sienna to any green. This is the complement at work, and it instantly calms a "plastic" green.
- Use yellow ochre instead of a bright yellow for earthy, olive greens.
- Yellow + black makes a surprisingly useful olive. Black behaves like a very dark, dull blue in mixtures.
- Cool distant greens with a little blue and white so they recede (atmospheric perspective). Keep the warmest, most saturated greens in the foreground.
- Deepen greens for shadow with alizarin crimson, burnt umber or ultramarine rather than black.
Tip: Mix several greens before you start a landscape, for example a yellow-green, a mid green, a blue-green and a deep shadow green. Variety in green reads as nature. A single green reads as a flat shape.
Green mixing chart
Starting ratios in parts, from brightest to most natural. The swatches are computed with Pigmento's pigment model.
| Mix | Result | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Phthalo blue + lemon yellow | Vivid spring green | Fresh leaves, bright accents |
| Ultramarine + cadmium yellow | Muted mid green | Landscape mid-tones |
| Sap green + burnt sienna | Natural foliage green | Trees, hedges, grass in shade |
| Yellow ochre + ivory black | Olive green | Olives, army green, dry grass |
| Ultramarine + yellow ochre | Soft grey-green | Distant trees, sage |
| Dark green | Deep shadow green | Shadowed foliage, conifers |
Greens in acrylic, oil and watercolor
- Acrylic: greens can look slightly darker and cooler once dry. Mix a little lighter and warmer than your target. Phthalo blue and phthalo green are especially powerful in acrylic, so add them with the tip of a knife.
- Oil: you can mix greens wet-into-wet on the canvas. Transparent greens (phthalo, sap green) glazed over a warm underpainting give glowing foliage. Opaque greens made with cadmium yellow and white sit forward and solid.
- Watercolor: mixing two transparent pigments keeps greens fresh. Many painters let blue and yellow mingle on the wet paper instead of fully mixing them on the palette, so the wash shows lively shifts between warm and cool green.
In every medium, the fastest route to believable landscape greens is to vary temperature and value rather than saturation: warm and light where the sun hits, cool and deeper in shadow and distance.
Ratios and strength
Yellow is weak and blue is usually strong. Phthalo blue in particular has enormous tinting strength. That's why you should add blue to yellow, a little at a time, rather than the other way around.
A green that seems "mostly yellow" on the palette might be three or four parts yellow to one part blue. The paint mixer on this site accounts for relative pigment strength, so try the ratios yourself.
On screens, mixing blue and yellow light gives grey or white, not green. That's additive mixing. Paint is subtractive: the yellow absorbs blue light, the blue absorbs red and yellow light, and what both reflect is mostly green.
Our mixer simulates that subtractive behavior rather than averaging RGB values. You can compare the two results side by side.
Recipes by medium
Proportions are starting points in parts by volume. Pigment strength varies by brand, so add strong colors gradually. The swatches are computed with Pigmento's pigment-mixing model and are approximations.
Vivid spring green
1 Phthalo Blue (GS) + 4 Lemon Yellow (parts). Clean and bright. Add the blue to the yellow, not the other way round.
Natural foliage
4 Sap Green + 1 Burnt Sienna (parts). Sienna warms and calms the green for believable leaves.
Olive green
4 Yellow Ochre + 1 Ivory Black (parts). An earthy olive. Add white for sage.
Landscape mid-green
1 Ultramarine Blue + 2 Cadmium Yellow Medium (parts). Naturally muted thanks to color bias. It's a great base for trees.
Sunlit grass
2 Sap Green + 2 Lemon Yellow + 1 Titanium White (parts). Keep it warm and saturated in the foreground.
Distant blue-green
1 Phthalo Green (BS) + 4 Titanium White + 1 Burnt Sienna (parts). Sienna tames the phthalo, and white pushes it back into the distance.
Fresh transparent green
1 Phthalo Blue (GS) + 3 Lemon Yellow (parts). Lovely and clear in washes. Dilute for spring foliage.
Granulating olive
1 Ultramarine Blue + 2 Yellow Ochre (parts). Granulates, and the texture suits fields and hillsides.
Shadow green
3 Sap Green + 1 Alizarin Crimson (parts). Deep and transparent for foliage in shadow.
Paints used in this lesson
Shop links coming soon- Phthalo Blue (GS)
- Lemon Yellow
- Sap Green
- Burnt Sienna
- Yellow Ochre
- Ivory Black
- Ultramarine Blue
- Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Titanium White
- Phthalo Green (BS)
- Alizarin Crimson
Student-grade paints work for every recipe here. Single-pigment artist paints mix cleaner and stronger. We may add affiliate links to paint sets later, and they will be clearly marked.
Frequently asked questions
What two colors make green?
Blue and yellow. For a bright green use a green-leaning blue (phthalo blue, cerulean) with a green-leaning yellow (lemon or Hansa yellow). For a muted, olive green use ultramarine with cadmium yellow medium or yellow ochre.
Why is my green muddy?
Usually color bias. Both the blue and the yellow contain a hint of red, which neutralizes green. Switch to phthalo blue and lemon yellow for clean greens. Too many pigments in one mix can also cause it.
How do you make dark green?
Add a little ultramarine, alizarin crimson or burnt umber to a mid green. Crimson is green's complement, so it deepens and enriches. Avoid relying on black, which tends to dull green.
How do you make olive green?
Mix yellow ochre or a warm yellow with a small amount of black or Payne's grey, or add a touch of red or burnt sienna to a mid green.
How do you make green darker without black?
Add a little ultramarine blue for a cool dark green, or alizarin crimson or burnt umber for a deep, natural one. Black tends to make greens look dull and lifeless, while these keep some color in the darks.
How do you mix sap green?
Sap green is a warm, slightly olive green. Mix a phthalo or ultramarine blue with a warm yellow, then mute it with a touch of burnt sienna or yellow ochre. Compare with a tube of sap green if you have one, and adjust with more yellow for a lighter, warmer version.