Identification

• Olive green varies from a medium yellowish green, similar to the color of green olives, to a dark, brownish green, to the grayish olive drab associated with military-issue clothing.
  
  

Features

• A standard olive or olive green--a muddy, medium green--can be made by combining yellow oxide or primary yellow with primary blue or green, and a small amount of black or white. Yellow acts as the base color. The proportion of colors used varies with the shade of olive green.
  
  

Effects

• Adding a small amount of red oxide or primary red will produce a browner shade. Yellow oxide and black, or yellow oxide, white and black create a grayer olive drab.
  
  

Food Coloring

• Olive green-colored frosting or icing--sometimes called khaki--is made by mixing primary yellow, black and primary blue or green tint paste with a white frosting or icing base.
  
  

Considerations

• Adding orange, brown or purple shades to the mix of colors is likely to produce a gray, murky shade that doesn't resemble any olive green tint.