What Colors Make Brown When Mixed Together?

Hello, and welcome to another color mixing adventure! Today, we will be exploring: What colors make brown when mixed together in paint, ink, or pigments?

First, we will address the basic three colors that yield brown, then learn how to make it with a whole bunch of two-color combinations — some of which are quite surprising! As background, I am a teacher and artist named Lillie who in enraptured by hands-on illustrations and experiments to learn how to make every color of the rainbow — and beyond. (Chartreuse and vermilion, anyone?) Let’s dive right in.

Which Three Colors Make Brown?

Though there are several models of color theory (RGB and CMYK being two), the model we will use in this article is the classic RYB pigment mixing framework — the one you likely learned since childhood — in which the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. These primary colors are the pigments that are the foundation to create all the other colors, and cannot be mixed from others.

In the RYB model, the answer to how to make brown is to mix all three primary colors. In other words, Red + Yellow + Blue = Brown.

As you can see in my painting below, three other colors that combine to form brown are the secondary colors, meaning, Orange + Green + Purple = Brown, because they’re simply remixed configurations of all three primaries, when taken all together. Just be careful, because in certain ratios, all three primary colors together make black!

What TWO Colors Make Brown?

Now that we know the foundational concept that the three primary colors together (red, yellow, and blue) make brown color, we can extrapolate to realize that any color combinations that contain every primary color has the potential to form brown. What do I mean? Let’s break it down.

For example (as demonstrated in my drawing, below), purple and yellow can make brown, because purple is red plus blue, meaning this combination is actually red plus blue plus yellow — all three primaries!

Orange and Red Mixed with Black

As shown above, one of the easiest and most effective ways of creating brown is to mix orange and black. Red and black make brown sometimes, too, but you may need to use a less saturated red so it’s less of a rust color. This black plus orange or red combination is particularly useful in trying to create different shades of skin tones in art prompts about painting people.

Let’s now undertake a deeper exploration of the many different color combinations that can yield brown — from terracotta color to a rich russet. Each blurb in my list below leads to a longer article, in which I’ve compiled many other illustrations to explain each color mix, so feel free to click through to learn even more. It’s a rainbow rabbit-hole!

Mixing Brown with Other Colors

Now that we know how to make brown by combining certain colors, what happens when we mix brown, itself, with various pigments? Check out “Purple and brown make what color?” for a surprising answer, and “Blue and brown make what color?” as well.

What Colors Make Brown, in Sum

Congratulations: You now have the knowledge and tools to create all different shades of brown, using either two or three “ingredient” colors of paint, ink, or pigments! This neutral color is key for any drawing prompts that call for natural skin tones, hair color (or colour, if you’re British), animal fur, or earth tones. In other words, there isn’t much art you can create without the wonderful color, brown! Enjoy it well.

Want more? Check out the bright, clear, and bold hues called intermediate colors, the confusing double tertiary colors definition.

Want to learn how to make another useful and lovely hue or two? Go ahead and read “What Colors Make Pink?” and the related, but still exciting piece on “What Colors Make Purple?”