Quick answer
Mix blue and orange, red and green, or yellow and violet: any pair of complements makes brown. You can also mix all three primaries (red, yellow and blue). The most reliable painter's brown is ultramarine blue + burnt sienna, about 1:2. Add white for light brown, and more ultramarine or burnt umber for dark brown.
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What brown actually is
On a color wheel you'll find red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet, but no brown. That's because brown isn't a separate hue. It's a dark, low-saturation version of orange, sometimes leaning red or yellow.
In color-science terms, brown has an orange-ish hue, a low value (it's dark) and a low chroma (it's muted). Put a chip of brown paint next to a vivid orange under bright light and you can see the family resemblance.
So mixing a brown means producing three things at once: an orange-leaning hue, less brightness, and less intensity. Every method below does that in a different way.
Try it: Mix a brown
Open full mixer →Three reliable ways to mix brown
1. Mix all three primaries
Red, yellow and blue together absorb most of the visible spectrum, so their mixture is dark and neutral. If red and yellow dominate, the neutral leans orange, and that's brown. A good starting ratio is two parts red, one part yellow, one part blue. Then adjust: more yellow for a golden brown, more red for a reddish brown, a touch more blue for a cooler, darker brown.
2. Mix two complementary colors
Complements sit opposite each other on the painter's wheel, and each one contains what the other lacks. Mixed together they neutralize each other. That's why blue + orange, red + green and yellow + violet all head toward brown or grey. Blue and orange is the most dependable pair, because orange already supplies the warm hue that brown needs.
3. Start from an earth pigment
Many browns come straight from the tube. Burnt sienna, burnt umber and raw umber are iron-oxide earth pigments, the same family painters have used for centuries. They're inexpensive, lightfast and easy to adjust.
A professional shortcut is ultramarine blue + burnt sienna. Mixed roughly equally they give a rich dark neutral. More sienna gives a warm chocolate brown, and more ultramarine gives a deep cool brown that many painters use instead of black.
Brown mixing chart
Starting ratios in parts. The swatches are computed with Pigmento's pigment model, so treat them as a guide and test on your palette.
| Mix | Result | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Ultramarine + burnt sienna | Neutral mid brown | Wood, hair, everyday shadows |
| Blue + orange | Deep, slightly cool brown | Tree trunks, dark wood |
| Red + green | Rich chocolate brown | Chocolate, deep shadows |
| Red + yellow + blue | Warm primary brown | When you only own primaries |
| Light brown | Tan, beige, light wood | Sand, skin shadows, paper bags |
| Dark brown | Cool, near-black brown | Dark hair, bark, deep accents |
How to adjust a brown
- Warmer: add a little red, orange or burnt sienna.
- Cooler: add a little blue or a touch of green. Raw umber is already a cool, slightly greenish brown.
- Lighter: white will lighten it, but it also cools and chalks the color, giving beige and taupe. For a lighter brown that stays warm, add yellow ochre or a warm yellow along with the white.
- Darker: add more blue, or more of the darker complement, rather than black. Black tends to flatten brown into a dull grey-brown.
- Less saturated: add a touch of the complement of the brown's current lean. Add green to a brown that looks too red, and violet to one that looks too yellow.
Tip: Judge a brown next to the colors around it, not alone on the palette. A neutral brown can look greenish next to a red and reddish next to a green. Simultaneous contrast is very strong with low-chroma colors.
Brown in acrylic, oil and watercolor
The pigments are the same across media, but how you handle them differs:
- Acrylic dries quickly and usually a little darker than it looks wet, so mix browns slightly lighter than your target and test a dab before committing. Mix enough for the whole area, because matching a brown later is hard.
- Oil stays workable for hours, so you can adjust browns right on the canvas. Transparent browns such as burnt sienna and burnt umber thinned with medium make classic warm underpaintings and glazes.
- Watercolor has no white. Light browns come from diluting with water and letting the paper show through. Granulating mixtures like ultramarine with burnt sienna separate into speckled textures that suit rock, bark and earth. Mixing two transparent pigments keeps the wash luminous. Opaque mixtures can look chalky or flat.
Whatever the medium, write down the ratio of any brown you love. A simple note like "2 sienna : 1 ultramarine" saves a lot of guesswork next time.
Why some browns turn muddy
"Mud" usually means a brown you didn't intend, or too many pigments in one mixture. Each pigment adds its own absorption, so a mix of four or five paints often ends up duller and darker than you wanted. Keep brown mixtures to two or three pigments where you can.
If one pigment is very strong, like phthalo blue or phthalo green, add it to the other color in tiny amounts. Opaque cadmiums give solid, flat browns. Transparent pigments such as burnt sienna, quinacridones and ultramarine give glowing browns that work beautifully in glazes and watercolor washes.
Recipes by medium
Proportions are starting points in parts by volume. Pigment strength varies by brand, so add strong colors gradually. The swatches are computed with Pigmento's pigment-mixing model and are approximations.
Classic neutral brown
1 Ultramarine Blue + 2 Burnt Sienna (parts). Fast-drying and dependable. Add more sienna for warmth and a touch of white for a milk-chocolate tone.
Primary brown
2 Cadmium Red Light + 1 Cadmium Yellow Medium + 1 Ultramarine Blue (parts). Good when you only carry primaries. Push it golden with more yellow.
Deep chocolate
3 Cadmium Red Light + 1 Phthalo Green (BS) (parts). Phthalo green is very strong, so add it to the red a little at a time.
Cool shadow brown
3 Burnt Umber + 1 Ultramarine Blue (parts). A common 'black' substitute for portrait and landscape shadows.
Warm earth brown
3 Burnt Sienna + 1 Yellow Ochre (parts). Lovely for wood, tree trunks and warm ground planes.
Blue-orange brown
2 Cadmium Orange + 1 Ultramarine Blue (parts). Very controllable. Shift the ratio to move between rust and slate.
Granulating brown
1 Ultramarine Blue + 2 Burnt Sienna (parts). Ultramarine granulates, which gives a lovely texture in washes. Lighten with water, not white.
Rich transparent brown
1 Alizarin Crimson + 2 Sap Green (parts). A transparent, glowing dark brown. It's great for glazing.
Golden brown
2 Burnt Sienna + 1 Cadmium Yellow Medium (parts). For sunlit earth and autumn leaves.
Paints used in this lesson
Shop links coming soon- Ultramarine Blue
- Burnt Sienna
- Cadmium Red Light
- Cadmium Yellow Medium
- Phthalo Green (BS)
- Burnt Umber
- Yellow Ochre
- Cadmium Orange
- Alizarin Crimson
- Sap Green
Student-grade paints work for every recipe here. Single-pigment artist paints mix cleaner and stronger. We may add affiliate links to paint sets later, and they will be clearly marked.
Frequently asked questions
What two colors make brown?
Any pair of complementary colors will make a brown or brownish neutral when mixed. Blue + orange is the most reliable pair because orange already provides the warm hue. Red + green and yellow + purple also work, but adjust the ratio until the mixture leans orange.
How do you make brown without black?
Mix the three primaries (about two parts red, one part yellow, one part blue), mix complements such as blue and orange, or use earth pigments like burnt sienna and burnt umber. None of these need black.
How do I make light brown or beige?
Start with a mid brown and add white a little at a time. Since white cools and chalks colors, add a touch of yellow ochre or a warm yellow to keep the light brown warm. In watercolor, dilute with water instead of adding white.
Why does my brown look grey or muddy?
Usually there's too much blue, too many pigments, or black was used. Warm it back up with orange, red or burnt sienna, and keep mixtures to two or three pigments.
How do you make brown paint lighter?
Add titanium white a little at a time, plus a touch of yellow ochre or orange. White alone cools brown and can make it look chalky or pinkish-grey, so the warm touch keeps it a believable tan.
How do you make dark brown paint without black?
Add ultramarine blue or burnt umber to your brown. Ultramarine deepens it and cools it slightly, and burnt umber darkens it while keeping it earthy. Add small amounts and test, because both are strong.