Buzz
Brown is a versatile color with many applications, but it’s not always easy to find the perfect brown shade in art color sets. Fortunately, you can mix various earth tones using just primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Simply blend these three colors together to create a basic brown. You can then experiment with different brown tones by adding another primary color, a bit of black, or mixing in multiple shades.
Steps
Mix the primary colors in equal proportions
Place small amounts of each color on the mixing palette. Arrange red, blue, and yellow close together on the palette. The exact amount of each color depends on how much brown you need. The key is to start with equal proportions of each color.
- Leave a little space between the colors. This way, you’ll have a wide enough area in the center to blend them together.
- Mixing brown from primary colors simply involves combining equal amounts of each color.
Tip: In theory, you can also mix with materials like oil pastels, watercolors, and colored pencils. However, the final result may not be uniform, as these mediums are harder to blend.
Blend the colors thoroughly. Use the edge of the palette knife to pull the inner edges of all three colors into the center, then use the flat side of the knife to mix the colors in a circular motion, gradually blending outward to incorporate more of each color. The mixture will turn into a smooth, rich brown.
- If using watercolors, oil pastels, or similar materials, you can layer the basic colors gradually, adding thin layers until you achieve the desired shade.
- The mixture will blend more evenly when you use a palette knife instead of a brush.
Add a touch of white to give the brown more depth. Once you’ve created the basic brown, you can add a drop of white and continue blending until the white integrates into the brown. Be careful not to add too much white—usually, you only need about a third of the total amount or less.
- Gradually add the white. You can add white at any time, but if you overdo it, the brown may become dull and faded.
- When blended into mixtures made with colored pencils, oil pastels, or watercolors, white will help improve the consistency of the color.
Making Brown from Secondary Colors
Mix red and yellow to create orange. Start with any amount of red, then add yellow bit by bit, aiming for a 1:1 ratio. Mix the two colors until the result turns into a rich orange.
- If you want a darker brown, you may need more red than yellow.
Kelly Medford
Artist
Artist
The key here is the ratio. With brown, you need to decide the shade you want to mix – reddish brown, yellowish brown, blue-tinged brown, etc. Additionally, think about whether you need a deep brown or a more transparent one. Achieving the right shade of brown is all about using the correct color ratios.
Mix blue with orange to create brown. Use less blue than orange – blue should make up no more than 35-40% of the total amount of color on the palette. Mix thoroughly until you get a chocolate brown.
- The more blue you add, the more muted and almost plum-like the brown will appear.
- Use reddish brown for a rustic and sunlit effect.
Mix red and blue to create purple. Use equal amounts of each color. Purple is a perfect blend of red and blue, but you can add more red if you find it difficult to balance the ratio.
- Purple can be tricky to mix perfectly. If the result is too red or blue, just add a little of the opposite color to balance it out.
- If the purple leans too much toward blue, it may not create the right shade when you add other basic colors. Red tends to be easier to work with.
Gradually add yellow to purple until it becomes brown. As you mix, you will start to see the earthy brown emerge. Continue adding yellow until you achieve the shade you desire.
- Increase the yellow if the brown has too cool of a tone.
- You can create a wide range of brown tones, from pinkish stone brown to desert sand, depending on the amount of yellow included.
Mix blue and yellow to create green. Squeeze a generous amount of blue and gradually add yellow in small increments. Like orange, you will begin with a deep green and slowly bring it toward the middle of the color spectrum.
- For the best result, your green should lean more toward a sky blue rather than a pale seafoam green.
Mix red with green to create brown. Add a little red to the green, mixing while gradually adding more until you reach the desired shade. Green mixed with red often produces a grayish brown, like earth at one extreme, and a warm burnt orange at the other.
- To achieve the most “pure” brown, your mixture should have about 33-40% red. Even with nearly equal proportions, red will still dominate.
Tip: The brown created from red and green is particularly suitable for painting landscapes and other natural scenes.
Transforming Brown with Different Tones
Add a touch of red or yellow for a warmer brown tone. If you want to brighten or highlight the basic brown, simply mix in a bit of a warm primary color. Pay attention to the ratio and mix gradually until you reach your desired shade.
- If you accidentally add too much red or yellow, simply blend in a little blue to balance it out.
- Warm brown tones are useful for depicting details on wood surfaces, bricks, earth, and the reflection of natural light.
Increase the amount of blue to create a cooler brown. Just like using red and yellow to darken brown for bright outdoor scenes, you can add more blue to achieve a softer brown tone. Blue-tinged brown helps in representing realistic shadow areas in scenes like forests, buildings, hair, and wrinkles in clothing.
- To adjust a brown that’s too cool, add a bit of red or yellow, keeping in mind how each color interacts with blue to create secondary shades.
Use black to darken various shades of brown you’ve created. Technically, black isn’t considered a primary color, but nearly every art palette includes it, and it’s extremely useful when you want to tone down an overly vibrant brown.
- A small amount of black will have a great effect. In most cases, just a tiny bit of black is enough to significantly reduce the brightness of brown.
Warning: Be careful not to overuse black when mixing with other colors. Remember, once black is added, it can’t be removed!
Mix different brown shades together. Combining one brown shade with another is a simple and fun way to discover unexpected new tones. Try mixing a brown shade by using different pairs of primary colors (such as orange and blue or green and red). Then, blend one or more colors together to see what happens!
- By blending multiple brown shades, you can make subtle changes to a hue rather than completely altering it, adjusting your mixing tray.
Tip
- If you come across a brown shade that catches your eye, make sure to note down the colors you’ve used so you can recreate that exact brown next time.
- Experiment with different ratios of primary and secondary colors to see how many brown shades you can create.
What You’ll Need
- Primary colors
- Palette, mixing board, or cardboard
- Color mixing knife
- Oil pastels, colored pencils, or crayons (optional)
