How to Mix Paint Colors to Make Brown
Examine a color wheel., Mix the primary colors together., Mix complimentary colors together., Change the lightness or darkness of your brown paint., Increase or decrease the saturation., Change the hue.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Examine a color wheel.
A color wheel is a disk divided into colored sections in the order of the rainbow.
It contains primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
Primary colors include red, blue, and yellow, while secondary colors are orange, green, and purple.
The tertiary colors are those found between the primary and secondary on the color wheel. -
Step 2: Mix the primary colors together.
The first and most basic way to create brown is to mix all the primary colors together.
That means you use a palette knife to blend blue, yellow, and red together until you reach the muddy color you desire.
You don’t need to use equal amounts of each; add differing amounts of each color to slightly change the hue of your brown paint. , When you look at the color wheel, the complimentary colors are the ones directly opposite one another on the wheel.
The complementary colors are blue and orange, red and green, and yellow and purple.
Mixing any of these pairs will create shades of brown that differ slightly from one another. , Add black or white to lighten or darken the paint.
You can choose to add more of the darkest color you used to create the brown, but this will also slightly change the hue as well as darken it.
If you want a very light brown, it will be easiest to take a lot of light paint and a small amount of the brown you have mixed.
Adding dark to light is easier than adding light to dark. , To make your brown brighter, add more of the colors you originally mixed to create it.
Making it more dull can be accomplished by adding a medium gray paint to the mixture. , If you created your shade of brown by mixing blue and orange, you can change the hue slightly by adding other colors.
For example, to create a warmer brown, add red to the mixture.
To create a dark, murky brown you could add purple or green.
Keep in mind that the complementary pairs of color you start with can be altered by adding as many other colors as you would like.
Add tertiary colors for a more subtle color change. -
Step 3: Mix complimentary colors together.
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Step 4: Change the lightness or darkness of your brown paint.
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Step 5: Increase or decrease the saturation.
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Step 6: Change the hue.
Detailed Guide
A color wheel is a disk divided into colored sections in the order of the rainbow.
It contains primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
Primary colors include red, blue, and yellow, while secondary colors are orange, green, and purple.
The tertiary colors are those found between the primary and secondary on the color wheel.
The first and most basic way to create brown is to mix all the primary colors together.
That means you use a palette knife to blend blue, yellow, and red together until you reach the muddy color you desire.
You don’t need to use equal amounts of each; add differing amounts of each color to slightly change the hue of your brown paint. , When you look at the color wheel, the complimentary colors are the ones directly opposite one another on the wheel.
The complementary colors are blue and orange, red and green, and yellow and purple.
Mixing any of these pairs will create shades of brown that differ slightly from one another. , Add black or white to lighten or darken the paint.
You can choose to add more of the darkest color you used to create the brown, but this will also slightly change the hue as well as darken it.
If you want a very light brown, it will be easiest to take a lot of light paint and a small amount of the brown you have mixed.
Adding dark to light is easier than adding light to dark. , To make your brown brighter, add more of the colors you originally mixed to create it.
Making it more dull can be accomplished by adding a medium gray paint to the mixture. , If you created your shade of brown by mixing blue and orange, you can change the hue slightly by adding other colors.
For example, to create a warmer brown, add red to the mixture.
To create a dark, murky brown you could add purple or green.
Keep in mind that the complementary pairs of color you start with can be altered by adding as many other colors as you would like.
Add tertiary colors for a more subtle color change.
About the Author
Sara Diaz
Brings years of experience writing about crafts and related subjects.
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