Brown Color: Fun Mixing and Exploring It!

I’ve always had a fasciation with the color brown. This article will help you explore and appreciate it from all facets. We’ll discuss how to make brown color, its significance and uses, and what happens when you combine it with other colors of paint or pigment — because I love color mixing!

As background, my name is Lillie, and I’m a teacher and artist who has brown hair (well, it’s somewhat streaked with silver strands now). Also, I attended Brown University in Rhode Island, and enjoy natural earth tones. Brown love all around!

Making Brown Color

First things first: what colors make brown when mixed together? Lots of them! If you click through to that link, you’ll see the full run-down, but the summary is that you create brown color in any of the following ways:

1. Combining all three primary colors in the RYB color model: red + yellow + blue.

2. Putting together two complementary colors (those opposite each other on the color wheel), such as yellow and purple or the old favorites, red and green — and don’t forget blue and orange.

Now, if you think about it, this second technique for making brown color is really just the same as #1, because it hits all three primaries. For example, green is the secondary color that our trusty pigment friends blue and yellow make, so red plus green is actually red plus yellow plus blue.

3. Any other combination of colors that have the components of red, yellow, and blue within them somewhere, such as pink and green. (These mixes may be strongly tinged with other colors — like pink and green make a light tan, which is brown tinged with white — but at their heart, these colors ARE some type of brown.)

4. Black plus orange — and to a less clearly brown extent, black plus red — creates a neat brown. Yes, that’s right: the answer to “Orange and black make what color?” is brown. Now, what is the color brown associated with, and how can we best use it for its full glory?

Associations and Uses of Brown

The color brown is associated with rich, earthy, natural elements such as fertile soil, tree trunks, skin tones, animal fur, and my personal favorite — chocolate candy. Though brown color is more neutral and desaturated than bright and jolly like intermediate colors, it has the effect of making the viewer feel grounded and rooted — as if leaning against a sturdy tree, or standing on the firm ground. Its usual meaning is one of powerful stability, as if cradling the viewer in the embrace of Mother Earth.

Of course, the color brown has many different shades and kinds. There is the light tan or khaki that brown and yellow make — ideal for uniforms or professional pants because it hides dirt stain so well! — and then there is the dark reddish-brown russet color that purple and orange make… and everything in between. The concept of “brown color” is a very wide-ranging one that encompasses so many types! Let’s explore some of them now.

Brown Color, in Sum

I remember back when I was applying to colleges as a track athlete, and the coach at a certain other rival university said to me, “Don’t go to Brown University — Brown is just a color.” Just a color?! Sheesh!

Of course, I didn’t heed his mockery, and ended up having a very happy four years as a student in that Providence institution of higher education… but the broader lesson is this: Brown is never just a color. It has associations, uses, meaning, variety, and power far beyond what most people realize. Yay for brown color fun!

Now I’m so curious to hear from you: What are your thoughts about brown? How do you most like to use it, wear it, paint with it, or even eat it? Do you have a favorite version of it? Mine is terracotta color! Do share your thoughts in the comment section below…