How to Make the Color Brown - Colors to Make Brown The Right Way

Learning how to make the color brown can save you time and effort from a trip to the store once you run out of stock while in the middle of a project. In fact, with this skill and knowledge, you can opt not to purchase brown paint, watercolor, and dye. After all, you'll find that the major colors you usually need to combine are those you regularly use and buy.

How to Make the Color Brown: What Colors Make Brown

When it comes to making the color brown, there are some basic concepts that you need to keep in mind, such as the:

• Most Common Colors to Use
• Materials and Tools You Need

How to Make Brown Paint Color - Most Common Colors to Make Brown

When you look at the categories of color, you'll find that brown is a tertiary color. It means it's made of either three primaries, blue, yellow, and red, or one secondary and one of the primary colors.

When using secondary colors, you must remember the basics of color theory, specifically complementary colors. With that in mind, when you look at the colors wheel, you should combine blue and orange, yellow and purple, or red and green to make brown.

You must also keep this in mind when it comes to the sequence of mixing the primaries. As such, here's how you'll mix them:

• Red and yellow to make orange, and then blue

• Red and blue to make purple, and then yellow

• Blue and yellow to make cyan-green, and then red

Definitely, there are different shades of brown, so you would need to adjust the amount of each of the colors you use to achieve the exact shade of brown you need.

Materials and Tools for Colors that Make Brown

Apart from the paints, dyes, or watercolors, for this how to make the color brown guide, you should prepare the following items:

• Palette Knife
• Clean Container or Surface
• Measuring Tool
• Paintbrush
• Test Cloth or Paper

Palette Knife

While you can use any item to mix the colors to make brown, a palette knife is the best tool because it will ensure easy and proper blending of colors. After all, it's used by many painters for their oil and acrylic paintings.

Clean Container or Surface

You will need a container not just to mix the colors but to hold the brown dye, paint, or watercolor you made. Of course, it should be clean because dirt and dust can stick to the coloring agent and affect its quality. You can opt for a cup or bowl for liquid-based coloring agents and a palette or thick cardboard for non-liquid-based coloring agents.

Measuring Tools for Colors that Make Brown

For liquid and powder dyes, have a measuring spoon or cup ready. It will help ensure precise and accurate measurement of the coloring agent, preventing you from guessing the correct ratio or proportion.

However, you need to make approximations when using acrylic paint, oil paint, and watercolor. That's because you can only use a paintbrush or squeeze the paint or watercolor out of its container.

Paintbrush for Mixing Brown

You may also use any of your brushes to blend the colors, but we don't recommend doing so. Remember that the coloring agent can stick to the bristles of the brush, leading to wastage, improper coloring agent ratio, and inability to achieve a uniform color.

That said, for this how to make the color brown guide, you'll use the paintbrush when testing the color you've made.

Test Cloth or Paper

Speaking of testing, ensure you have a piece of white paper or cloth to apply the brown coloring agent you made. Through testing, you're assured that you've achieved the right color palette or shade or see how it will really look when you use it.

How to Make Brown Paint Color with Primary Colors

When it comes to making the standard brown hue, there are three general steps that you need to follow, namely:

1. Prepare the Materials
2. Measure and Mix
3. Test

Step 1: Prepare the Materials

The first thing that you need to do is to gather all the materials that you need to ensure you complete the process quickly and conveniently.

Step 2: Measure and Mix

This step of the process on how to make the color brown differ for each type of coloring agent you're working with.

How to Make Brown Paint Color with Liquid-Base

• Using the right measuring tool, measure equal amounts of each color you need to make the color brown. Make sure that you do this step as systematically as possible. For instance, measure one teaspoon of liquid red dye and place it in your mixing container. Then, measure a teaspoon of liquid blue dye and place it in the container.
• Using your palette knife, mix the two colors until you no longer see the blue and red colors. At this point, you should have a purple color.
• Lastly, measure a teaspoon of liquid yellow dye and place it in the container.
• Mix using the same palette knife until you see one solid brown color.

How to Make Brown with Non-Liquid-Base

• For tube paints, squeeze a little glob of each color you'll use one at a time, with a bit of space between them, onto your flat mixing container.
• Using the tip of your palette knife, drag the inner edges of each color toward the middle (the space you created earlier).
• Gently glide in a circular motion to mix the colors while slowly working outward to get more of every color.
• As you do so, you'll find the color becoming rich or creamy muddy brown.
• For watercolor and other coloring agents, dip your brush in water and then into the color and carefully transfer it to the mixing surface. Wash the brush or get a new one, dip it into the water, and then into the second color.
• Place it on top of the first color, and then mix using the brush. Wash the brush or get a new one, dip it into the water, and then into the second color. Place it on top of the blended colors, and then mix using the brush.

Step 3: Test What Colors Make Brown

Take your paintbrush and dip it in the color mix. Apply it to your test cloth or paper to check if it's really one solid color. If not, continue mixing and then test again. Repeat until you've achieved the brown color.

How to Make Brown Paint Color Using One Secondary and One Primary Color

This color combination is a bit more challenging than when using three primary colors. That's because you won't usually use an equal amount of every color. That said, the trick is always to add the primary to the secondary.

It means that the steps on how to make the color brown are the same, except for Step 2: Measure and Mix.

Step 1: Prepare the Materials

As mentioned above, gather all the necessary materials to ensure you complete the process quickly and conveniently.

Step 2: Measure and Mix

The primary colors of yellow blue and red make brown.

Here are the different instructions you need to keep in mind when combining secondary and primary colors to make brown:

What 2 Colors Make Brown:

• Green and Red - Place the amount of green color you need in a container or on your mixing surface. Add a small amount of red, approximately 33% to 40% of the total color, and blend them.
• Orange and Blue - Place the amount of orange in a container or on your mixing surface. Add a little amount of blue, approximately 35% to 40% of the total color, and then blend them.
• Purple and Yellow - Place a good amount of purple into your mixing tool, add a little amount of yellow, and then mix. Add a little more yellow until you achieve the exact shade and tone. If you prefer warm brown, add more yellow.

Step 3: Test

Take your paintbrush and dip it in the color mix. Apply it to your test cloth or paper to check if it's really one solid color. If not, continue mixing and then test again. Repeat until you've achieved the brown color.

Step 4: Keep a Diary of the Ratios or Proportions

To save you time and effort in the future, record the ratio or proportion of the colors you used to make brown.

How to Mix Brown Paint: Different Shade Variations

If the standard brown shade and tone isn't what you need or want, here are some brown colors and how you can make them using the same materials as above:

• Light Brown
• Beige
• Tan
• Chestnut
• Dark or Chocolate Brown
• Espresso

How to Make Light Brown

Now, if you want a lighter shade of the standard brown, add a small amount of titanium white paint into the mix. Add a bit more until you've achieved the exact light brown color you want.

If you want the light brown color that you made to have a warmer tone or make it brighter, add a little cadmium yellow. Again, make sure you add it little by little to avoid completely changing the color of the mixture.

How to Make Chestnut Brown

Also a bit lighter than the standard brown, the chestnut brown shade doesn't have as strong a hue as sienna or burnt sienna. It has an earthy, bright tone and looks more reddish-brown or brick-like.

To achieve this shade, you need to add yellow and red in different amounts. Meaning you should add a little amount of yellow followed by a little amount of red, and then mix. Continue doing so until you achieve the right shade and tone.

How to Make Beige

A brown color variety that is lighter than the standard light brown, the process of making beige is slightly different from the mix stage of the how to make the color brown method above.

How? Well, instead of adding another color to the mix, you have to add brown to the additional color. To put it simply, white will be your base color.

Then, add brown (whether commercially prepared or the one you prepared earlier) to it little by little until you have a beige color. Once achieved, add a drop of red to give it its signature pink tint.

If you find that the beige color you made is too light or dark, then just add a little amount of brown or white.

How to Make Tan Brown

Like beige, tan is a very light shade of brown that requires brown to be mixed with a lighter color. Tan is closer to classic brown than beige and doesn’t have the pinkish tint of beige.

Make tan by adding more yellow to brown. You can also add a little white, but you want to stay away from the very light, almost pink shade, so don’t add red if you add white.

How to Make Dark Brown or Chocolate Brown

In contrast to the lighter shade of brown, add a bit of black to the original standard brown mix to make it a bit darker. Add more until you achieve the darkness that you want or need.

Use purple instead of black if you prefer less bright, dark brown. You can also use both, black and purple if you want a smoother-looking dark brown color.

Now, if you want to give it a natural warmth, add a little red, but make sure you don't add too much to avoid having a reddish-brown color. For a warmer brown, you can use magenta instead of the standard red color.

On the other hand, if you want cool browns of this shade, add blue color into the original mix, little by little.

A Unique Color Mix for Brown

Arts allow you to be as creative, bold, and experimental as you can be, so feel free to play around with colors to create your own shade of brown.

You can combine the different shades of brown you made or available in your set and see what comes out. You can also play around with the primary and secondary colors by going against the color theory or wheel.

How to Mix Brown From Scratch

The good thing is that different colors make brown, and there are several ways how to make the color brown. The color combinations and ratios or proportions you'll use will depend on the specific shade and tone you want and/or need for your project.

Bring out the artist in you and play around with colors! Just don't forget to add colors slowly and record the ratio or proportion of the colors you used.

Related

• How to Make the Color Black
• How to Make the Color Brown