For those who are beginning to paint, one of the most difficult tasks is to learn to mix colors to obtain the desired shades. For example, there are many who wonder how to make brown. In this case, the first thing to know is that brown is not a specific or basic color, but there are many different shades: light, dark, flesh color, earth color, chocolate, cinnamon, etc.
There are many types of browns, and therefore many different ways to achieve this color. If you want to learn how to make brown color with tempera or other materials until you get different shades, keep reading this oneHOWTO article.
What colors to mix to make brown
As we have already said, brown is not really a color, since not part of the spectrum of light, but it is a name by which we refer to a series of tones that resemble, but not a specific color. That is why you must take into account what tone of brown you want to obtain, because depending on that tone you will have to follow a mixture of colors or another.
You can choose to do a basic brown or coffee color and then lighten or darken it according to the tone you want to achieve. To do this, you will need to add something else of the lightest color that you have used in the mix, or the darker color. If you need to speed up the process, you can also choose to add a little white or a little black.
The colors that are mixed to make brown are very varied. You can make brown with primary and / or secondary colors, but the important thing is that it be complementary colors, that is, they are opposite in the chromatic circle. In this other article we tell you more about What are the complementary colors.
Therefore, these are some of the possible combinations of the colors to make brown color:
- Cyan + magenta + yellow.
- Magenta + green.
- Red + green.
- Purple + yellow.
- Orange + blue.
So, whether you wonder how to make brown with tempera, plasticine, enamel or paint, now you know that with these colors you can get a basic brown and then lighten or darken to achieve different shades of brown. Next, we will explain how to make brown with paint, both acrylic and tempera, as well as help you prepare different tones.
Image: psd graphics
How to make brown with primary colors
The simplest thing is to make brown with the primary colors of pigments: cyan blue, yellow and magenta (Remember that blue, green and red are the primary colors of light). To do this, you just have to combine the three colors until you get the tone you want.
If you add each color in equal amounts, it will turn out brown. The more yellow you add, the lighter the tone will be, while the more magenta or blue, the darker it will be. You can too add white to lighten and ready! You will get a shade of brown that, later, you can modify by adding more amounts of each.
How to make brown with complementary colors
Making brown with complementary colors can be more complex than the previous case. However, you can get other different shades by playing with the proportions. These are the different options:
- Orange and blue: mix 5/6 of orange and 1/6 of blue, obtaining the basic brown-brown color.
- Green and red: add 1/6 of red color for every 5/6 of green and you have the basic brown color.
- Purple and yellow– Mix purple or violet with yellow. If you do it in more or less equal proportions, you will get a brown color similar to the previous ones.
As in the previous case, the final result will be a brown brown. If you want a different hue, you just have to change the proportions of each color. If you want to make a dark brown color, you will have to add more of the darkest color of the mixture, while, if you want to know how to make light brown colorYou just have to increase the lighter color of the mixture.
Finally, if you start from the primary colors, you will need to know what colors green, orange, red and purple are made with:
Tips for making color brown
Now that you know how to make brown, you must choose what shade of brown do you want make: chocolate brown, ocher, earth brown, cinnamon, skin color, chestnut, caramel, etc. To do this, we recommend that you follow the following tips:
- Decide what mix you are going to make according to the colors you have. Remember to consult the chromatic circle and opt for complementary or opposite colors or to use the three primary ones.
- Apply a small amount of each one and mix, so as you see the tone that comes out, you can add more of the lighter or darker color of the mixture itself, depending on how you want a brighter tone, or quite the opposite.
- It is recommended that while you prepare the shade of brown that you want to have in front of you on paper or on a screen the color you want, so you can go comparing to get it with the most exact result possible.
Finally, we leave you some articles that will help you achieve certain shades of brown:
If you want to read more articles similar to How to make brown, we recommend that you enter our category of Arts and crafts.