There are so many colors in the world, but brown is one of the most common. There is something beautiful and natural about this color. It is usually associated with autumn and winter. There are many ways in which it is found, from the color of wood, soil, natural landscapes, and even the color of our hair and eyes. Even though it is not considered the most popular color, it symbolizes elegance, trustworthiness, honesty, protection, and healing.
Despite its versatility, brown is a very popular color. There are a variety of brown shades we can mix together to create different hues. However, most artists are worried because brown is not always readily available in their art supplies. This raises the question of what colors make brown. Don’t panic if you are among them. Several primary and secondary colors can be mixed together to get a brown color.
We will explain what colors make brown in this blog, so do not be afraid to read on. In this lesson, we’ll discover what a brown color is, discuss the color wheel, and discover how to make the brown color. Keep reading.
Types of Colors That Make Brown
Brown can be made from three different types of colors. These are the primary colors, the secondary colors, and the complementary colors. The brown color is created by adding a few colors from red to yellow in the color wheel.
By following the simple trick below, you can make brown paint:
- Adding two primary colors, just like red and green, or just a primary color with just a secondary color is really a simple trick.
- Moreover, complementary colors are used to determineo that their effects cancel out and their brightness and intensity are increased or decreased by one another.
- Brown can actually be achieved quite easily by mixing various colors; however, the exact shade requires a bit more effort and perfection.
The purpose of this blog is to explain to you what colors make brown. Through this blog, we will demonstrate how to make different shades of brown.
What Colors Make Brown
Red + Yellow + Blue = Brown
If you’ve ever noticed, mixing a bunch of different colors together is the easiest way to make brown, and it is true that you eventually turn to brown when you do this.
For this reason, when you paint, print, or create digital art, you have to combine colors. By combining the primary colors red, yellow, and blue, you can create brown. The color brown can also be made by mixing blue and orange since red and yellow make orange. To create brown, red, and green, the RGB model is used on screens such as televisions and computers.
As saturation and lightness are related, we can perceive different shades of brown by altering the amount of each color in a mixture. As we will discuss later, the shade can also be modified by adding more colors or changing the proportions.
Make Brown Step by Step
Here, we’re going to talk about mixing paint to make brown. Ink, play-doh, or markers are some of the forms of application you can use with this theory.
- Step 1:
You should place an equal-sized dollop of each color on your palette and leave a good amount of space between them.
- Step 2:
Blend the primary colors with equal parts of the palette knife to create a muddy brown.
- Step 3:
The third step is to add a little bit of white. Make sure you use less white than you did with the other colors. You can lighten your brown with a touch of opaque white but apply it little by little. Adding more will always lighten the color.
You will likely need more than one kind of brown, regardless of what you plan to paint. As mentioned previously, adding more white will make the tint lighter. Ensure that each addition is thoroughly mixed.
Whenever you notice your brown starting to look beige, you may add red or yellow to warm it up, or you may add blue to cool it. Using warm tones to paint bricks and wooden surfaces will enhance their reflected light. Browns with cooler tones work better with wet wood and snow-covered trees. You can create a wide range of browns by adjusting the ratio of each primary color.
Complementary Colors to Make Brown
Brown can also be created by mixing complementary colors together! Check out the color wheel below if you don’t know what complementary colors are.
Those colors on the color wheel opposite each other are complementary. The color wheel shows that yellow and purple are opposites, making them complementary colors. Furthermore, red and green are complementary colors, as well as blue and orange.
What Two Colors Make Brown
By mixing complementary colors, you can make brown. See how two colors make brown when combined with each other by reading the following recipes.
Orange + Blue = Brown
To achieve a brown shade, mix orange with blue equally. Add more orange to your blue until you reach a brown color; otherwise you will only get a muted blue.
Mixing blue and orange together creates the most beautiful brown color! You can get brown by mixing orange and blue in equal quantities. It can also be made cooler by adding a little more blue or warmer by adding a little bit of orange. In any case, this is an easy way to achieve the brown color.
A blue does not always have to be ultramarine blue, and orange does not always have to be cadmium orange. If you’d like a specific color mix, you could mix orange and blue colors yourself. Depending on what you have on hand, youcan also use different blues, like cobalt blue, cerulean blue, or pthalo blue!
Green + Red = Brown
A good basic brown color can also be made using complementary colors, green and red. You can use any color for your green and red as with the blue/orange mixture. Alternatively, you can mix your own green or use Sap green or Pthalo Green.
You can also use reds with a more earthy tone, such as Burnt Sienna or Alizarin Crimson. When using Burnt Sienna, you should use caution. Because red is a primary color, you may not mix it with other colors. If you want to see what kind of results you can achieve, experiment with different combinations of red and blue.
Purple+ Yellow = Brown
It is the most colorful of all the brown colors you can mix when you mix purple and yellow together.
Besides cadmium yellow, you can blend different yellows with purple to make a brown. It will help get a lighter brown color because it is a brighter, lighter yellow. In addition, Yellow Ochre is a fantastic color for mixing up browns, though it is already an earth tone color.
What Colors Make Dark Brown
The addition of colors that are darker than the primary colors will determine what colors make dark brown. Adding black or purple color, for example, can create a dark effect, similar to the color of chocolate.
You can add more red and blue colors than yellow if you are using red, yellow, and blue colors. Red and ultramarine blue or black colors can be mixed to produce a darker tone. Mixing these colors produces the same result as mixing red and black.
Red may have a variety of tones. The most effective shade is usually a bright red. Reds such as cadmium red, pyrrole red, and naphthol red can be used. They will all produce a darker shade!
Artists need to understand that the results will differ if you add black or purple to make dark brown. Black, for example, lends a smoother look and feel to the mixture and makes it appear brighter than purple.
A reddish-brown or a blackish-brown shade can be achieved by mixing these primary colors with more or less white if you wish to draw bark, paint a brick, draw a tree or paint a gleam in antique wood.
What Colors Make Light Brown
When it comes to making the perfect shade of brown, brown is the easiest color to mix. No matter whether you use watercolors, acrylic paints, pastels, or oils, it’s easier to get a light brown tone.
Add a small amount of red paint to the palette to make a light brown shade. Put blue and yellow colors next, making sure they are equally spaced apart.
Using a palette knife or brush, combine all the colors carefully until a rich brown color is achieved. Now, using a few drops of white paint, you can give it a light shade. Keep adding paint until you achieve the desired shade.
When mixing brown and white, it is always advisable to add a little white until the brown becomes lighter in color. Additionally, different results can be obtained depending on the color and consistency of the paint.
How to Make Warm Brown Shades
In terms of color theory, brown is a warm hue. Even so, you may find yourself needing to create warmer shades of brown in the future. Below is a color chart that will help you determine which color combinations will help!
My favorite color is Alizarin Crimson since it is very useful and is fine for mixing warm browns. A warm brown can also be mixed well with Cadmium Red. Compared to Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Red produces a warmer brown color. Due to its cooler temperature, Alizarin Crimson is preferred over Cadmium Red. Cadmium Orange is also useful for creating brown tones.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you make the color chocolate brown?
It is possible to make chocolate brown in many ways. Colors like blue, yellow, or even red can be mixed with white or black paint to create various shades. Chocolate brown can be made by mixing red, black, and yellow, as well as orange and black.
How do you make a light brown color?
A light brown color is a combination of red, blue, and yellow. You should mix all three colors in equal amounts when you mix brown with these colors.
What colors make dark brown?
Combine red, blue, and yellow to make dark brown. Add less of the yellow and more of the red and blue to make it darker. A darker brown can also be achieved by mixing ultramarine blue with black or vice versa.
What colors make gold brown?
Red, blue, and yellow are all mixed together to create a brown-based gold coloration. To begin, create a shade of green by combining equal parts red and blue. The warm, dark gold color is created by combining equal parts green and yellow. For a brighter gold, keep adding yellow until the desired shade is achieved.
Final Words
For artists, brown is a very important color because it is used to paint wood, skin, soil, hair, and many other things. During the early stages of painting, most painters mix every color to achieve a brown. Occasionally, you may get brown, but not always. There are times when you may not get the same results. Because of this, it is necessary to mix the right combination of colors so that you can obtain the desired shade of brown.
Hopefully, now you can understand the difference between lighter and darker brown tones using a variety of colors and what colors make brown. By using these techniques, you can enhance your painting skills while having fun. Drawings that use colored pencils, pastel colors, or acrylic paints can all benefit from these color-mixing methods to achieve brown.
It is now relatively easy to create any hue using just three primary colors, so brown paint no longer needs to be purchased separately. Don’t waste any more time and try all of these tricks to make your artwork darker. Thanks for reading!