What Colours Make Brown? Paint Mixing Explained
Brown comes from mixing complementary colours or all three primaries. See what common paint mixes make, why screens disagree, and get recipes for any colour.
3 min read ·
Brown comes from mixing all three primary colours — red, yellow and blue — or any pair of complementary colours: red with green, blue with orange, or yellow with purple. More red or orange gives a warm brown; more blue gives a cool, dark brown; adding white makes tan and beige. To work out a mix and how much of each paint to measure, use the Paint Color Mixing Calculator.
Common paint mixes
| Mix | Result |
|---|---|
| Yellow + blue | Green |
| Red + yellow | Orange |
| Red + blue | Violet / purple |
| Red + yellow + blue | Brown (or muddy grey) |
| Red + green | Brown |
| Blue + orange | Brown / slate |
| Yellow + purple | Brown / olive |
| Any colour + white | A tint (lighter, softer) |
| Any colour + black | A shade (darker) |
| Any colour + its complement | A duller, greyer version |
Mixing different browns
- Warm brown: red + yellow + a little blue, or orange + a touch of blue.
- Dark chocolate brown: red + green with a little extra blue or black.
- Reddish brown (burnt sienna): red + a little green.
- Olive brown: yellow + purple with extra yellow.
- Tan and beige: any brown + white, with a little yellow for warmth.
- Skin tones: start with a light brown (red + yellow + white) and adjust with tiny amounts of blue for depth or more white for lighter tones.
Add colours in small amounts — a touch of blue changes a brown far more than a touch of yellow does.
Use the calculator
- Open the Paint Color Mixing Calculator.
- Load a paint set, or set each paint's colour with the swatch or a HEX code.
- Enter how many parts of each paint the mix uses.
- Read the mixed colour, and set your batch size to see how much of each paint to measure.
- Working backwards? Switch to Match a colour, choose your target and press Find the recipe — you get a recipe in whole parts from the paints you own.
Choose Painter's wheel for opaque paints (acrylic, oil, gouache, wall emulsion) and Glaze / ink for transparent layers (watercolour glazes, printing inks), where colours can only get darker.
Why paint mixes differ from screen colours
Screens mix light (additive colour): red and green light make yellow, and all colours together make white. Paint mixes pigment (subtractive colour): each pigment absorbs some light, so mixing removes more light, and all colours together make dark brown or mud. That's why averaging two colours on a computer — blue and yellow make grey on screen — gives a completely different answer from paint, where they make green. The calculator models the painter's red-yellow-blue wheel so its results match the palette.
Tinting strength: why some paints take over
Equal amounts don't mean equal influence. A strong pigment like phthalo blue overwhelms white or yellow far beyond its share, while earth colours are gentle. The calculator's str field lets you set this: leave it at 1 for ordinary paints and raise it for staining pigments such as phthalos, dioxazine and quinacridones.
Matching a colour you've seen
To mix a colour from a photo — a wall colour, a fabric, a flower — pick its colour code with the Image Color Picker, then use Match a colour in the calculator. Always mix a small test swatch and let it dry: many paints change shade as they dry.
Tips for mixing
- Start with the lighter colour and add the darker one gradually.
- Mix enough the first time — matching a mix later is hard. Use the batch calculator.
- Write down the recipe in parts.
- Avoid mud: mixing too many colours, or complementaries in equal amounts, kills vibrancy.
Frequently asked questions
Is the calculator exact?
It's a colour model, not a measurement of your specific paints. Brands differ, so treat it as a starting point and test.
What two colours make brown?
Any complementary pair: red + green, blue + orange, or yellow + purple.
Is anything uploaded?
No. Calculations happen in your browser.