The rudimentary tools to make the brown hue are the primary colours, red, yellow and blue. The primary colours are those colours which are at the apex of the colour wheel and out of which thousands of other colours can be made.
Along with primary colours, one needs the complementary colour, that is, a secondary colour which when combined with a primary colour produces the strongest contrast. In other words, when a primary colour is mixed with its complementary colour, they cancel each other out.
As mentioned earlier, brown can be made by mixing red, yellow and blue with their respective complementary colours.
MAKING BROWN BY MIXING BLUE AND ORANGE COLOURS
By mixing a tiny amount of blue colour with orange colour, a chocolaty brown colour can be created. The percentage of blue colour should be not more than 5 to 10% of the total proportion of orange colour. The shade of the brown can be adjusted by adding some blue paint for a deeper brown and by adding some orange for a lighter brown.
MAKING BROWN BY MIXING GREEN AND RED COLOURS
By mixing a little amount of red with green colour, a ruddy brown colour can be created. The amount of red should be just 5 to 10% of the total amount of green colour. The muddy brown created can be darkened by adding more red and it can be lightened by adding a tint of green to it.
MAKING BROWN BY MIXING PURPLE AND YELLOW COLOURS
Firstly, purple is not a primary colour. But, it can be created by mixing two primary colours, red and blue. Once, the purple is created or is available, a nice brown colour can be made by mixing a little amount of yellow to the purple colour. The amount of yellow, of course, should be less and the amount of purple ought to be greater. By mixing these two colours, a very mauvish shade of brown can be made. To lighten the brown, one needs to add a tint of yellow to the mixture.
MAKING BROWN BY MIXING ALL COLOURS
Brown can also be created by mixing all colours together. Firstly, one ought to mix dark green and dark blue in equal proportions. Then, black should be mixed in equal proportions as well. Lastly, red and yellow should be added in equal amount and thoroughly mixed to create a nice shade of brown. To lighten the shade of the brown colour, more yellow paint should be added to the mixture.
MAKING BROWN BY OTHER METHODS
The simplest method of making brown is by mixing all the primary colours together, i.e, yellow, red and blue. After adequately blending these three colours, a muddy brown colour is achieved. The shade or depth of the brown colour can be adjusted by mixing the trio in different proportions. More yellow should be added to make the brown colour lighter and more blue or red should be added to make the brown colour darker. But, this process is not very neat as one doesn’t have a lot of control.
Viola, brown colour is made and ready to put to use.
