Burnt Sienna (PBr7) and Terra Cotta (PR102) are two lovely earth oranges that I will compare from Da Vinci. I pictured them above with Indian Red (PR101) to demonstrate how they are much more similar to each other than to an earth red, and prove to myself that Terra Cotta is really an earth orange. Because its pigment number is similar to Indian Red’s and because other brands call PR102 “Light Red”, I keep wanting to lump it in as an earth red, but it’s really very orange. It therefore vies for the same palette slot as Burnt Sienna. So which of these two earth oranges do I want in my dream palette?
Properties
Pigment: Burnt Sienna is made from PBr7; Terra Cotta from PR102. Typically, PBr7 is a synthetic brown oxide while PR102 is a natural red oxide, but I have observed both pigment numbers being used for natural or synthetic pigments so I am not sure in this case whether they are both synthetic or both natural or what.
Opacity: Burnt Sienna is transparent; Terra Cotta is opaque.
Granulation: Both granulate. Terra Cotta appears to me to have larger granulation.
Hue: Both are distinctly orangey, and distinctly earthy, with their brownish hue and granulation. Burnt Sienna appears a little more muted (lower chroma, closer to brown), while Terra Cotta is more vivid. The difference in chroma is especially notable in dilute, where Burnt Sienna dilutes to a fawn color and Terra Cotta to peach.
Strength: I found Terra Cotta stronger than Burnt Sienna.
Value: I found it easier to get a deep masstone with Terra Cotta because of its tinting strength, so in that sense it was easier to get darker, but there is a limit on how dark it can get because of its opacity. Burnt Sienna can be glazed.
Brush Feel: Terra Cotta has a lovely brush feel, my preferred: it rewets easily but then just feels like a wet rock off which color is flowing abundantly. The Burnt Sienna, by contrast, can feel tacky when rewet, and doesn’t give up its color as easily.
Lightfastness: I have not personally done lightfast tests, but both pigments are said to be lightfast.
Toxicity: Both pigments are nontoxic.
Color Mixes
Monte Amiata Natural Sienna (PBr7)
Granulating saddle colors, with the TC mixes being a bit higher chroma and more orangey.
Quin Red (PV19)
The earth orange warms and browns the magenta; with TC I found the mixes easier to get dark. BS is nicer at lower concentrations for coral-brown shades, while dark TC makes velvety crimsons which remind me of red rose petals.
Quin Fuchsia (PR202)
Both these mixes make nice dark crimson hues with PR202.
Ultramarine Blue (PB29)
Both mix some beautiful browns and soft gray-blues with Ultramarine. Because Ultramarine is also granulating, the mixes are also distinctly granulating in both cases.
In hue, Burnt Sienna’s browns seem to be a bit cooler and more violet-toned while the slightly oranger Terra Cotta mixes warmer browns. Even the blue-gray has hints of orange in the color separation. The Burnt Sienna browns are probably more useful for me because I often find myself wanting that almost violety, grayish feel.
Terra Cotta was easier to get dark, though.
Indanthrone Blue (PB60)
Similar range of useful gray, black, brown, and slate blue hues. As with my other mixes I found the TC mixes easier to get dark.
Cobalt Blue (PB28)
Browns and grays that all have a cool feeling – even the more earth orange ones – because of the sprinkling of cool blue color separation. Comparable between BS and TC.
Cerulean Blue (PB36)
I actually found the hues more strikingly different in the Cerulean mixes where Burnt Sienna continues to mix mid-orange-browns and grays, similar to those with Cobalt Blue, while Terra Cotta mixes warmer, unusual, grayed maroons.
Phthalo Turquoise (PB16)
Similar and strikingly lovely deep pine greens. Again, TC mixes much easier to get dark.
Phthalo Green Yellow Shade (PG36)
I didn’t much like the BS mixes with the green, which felt insipid and awkward, but the darker and browner mixes with TC were very interesting to me. They seem to mix these perfect browns that don’t look like either component, which is a type of mixing I find magical.
Conclusion
I was expecting to find that Burnt Sienna was a superior mixer because of its transparency, that its classic time-tested earth orange hue was incredibly versatile for mixing, and that it was the best earth orange in DV’s line. Instead, I found that I pretty consistently preferred Terra Cotta!
To me, the most important thing is the brush feel. I am very particular about the texture of a paint and how it feels on my brush when I rewet and pick up color. Terra Cotta’s perfect, while BS has a bit of stickiness and weakness that I find consistently low-level frustrating.
But in the color mixes, too, I found that Terra Cotta consistently gave me darker values, which is also really important to me. This might be simply another effect of its stronger tinting strength. I expected the opacity of this color to limit its value range, but in mixes with strong, dark, transparent colors, e.g. PB16 and PR202, it never seemed to be a problem.
Final Verdict: I prefer Terra Cotta!
Wanna try ’em? You can support the blog by shopping with my affiliate links.
Terra Cotta, 8ml: Da Vinci Paints
Burnt Sienna, 8ml: Da Vinci Paints