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How to mix Brown in oil paint
Brown is a warm mid-dark brown of earth, wood and hair. Below are the oil paint mixing recipes PaintMixLab calculates for it from three common paint sets, in parts you can measure on the palette.
Target colour #6B4A2B
Predicted mix #6A4C32
Target #6B4A2B against the predicted mix from the Winton recipe (very close, ΔE 1.8).
Brown mixing recipes by paint set
| Paint set | Recipe (parts) | Match |
|---|---|---|
| Winsor & Newton Winton | 7 Titanium White + 5 Terre Verte + 2 Burnt Umber 7 Titanium White5 Terre Verte2 Burnt Umber |
Very close (ΔE 1.8) |
| Gamblin 1980 | 5 Titanium White + 4 Chromium Oxide Green + 1 Cadmium Red Light 5 Titanium White4 Chromium Oxide Green1 Cadmium Red Light |
Excellent match (ΔE 1.2) |
| Magicfly 40 | 3 Titanium White + 2 Orange Red + 1 Burnt Umber 3 Titanium White2 Orange Red1 Burnt Umber |
Excellent match (ΔE 1.4) |
Parts are by volume. Recipes follow the app’s standard engine, which adds white to bring the mix up to the predicted value on the palette. Match quality (ΔE 2000) compares the predicted mix with the target: under 1.5 is excellent, under 3.5 very close, under 6 close.
Dark Mode recipes (original engine, no extra white)
- Winsor & Newton Winton: 5 Terre Verte + 2 Burnt Umber
- Gamblin 1980: 4 Chromium Oxide Green + 1 Cadmium Red Light
- Magicfly 40: 2 Orange Red + 1 Burnt Umber
What two colours make Brown?
With only two tubes from the Winton range, the closest PaintMixLab finds is 7 Soft Mixing White + 3 Burnt Umber (approximate, ΔE 7.3). Two-tube mixes are simpler to repeat but usually a little further from the target than three.
How to mix Brown by hand
- Put out Terre Verte as the base — it carries the hue.
- Work in Burnt Umber a little at a time until the hue swings towards brown; stop as soon as it reads right, it is easy to overshoot.
- Lighten with white until the value matches your reference. Check it next to the target in daylight — a mix always looks lighter on the knife than on the canvas.
- Mix more than you think you need, and save the swatch in PaintMixLab so you can repeat it tomorrow.
Oranges and earth tones are usually a warm yellow and a red, greyed down with a little of the complement blue. Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre get you most of the way on their own.
Related colour recipes
Brown questions
What colours make brown?
In the Winton range: 7 Titanium White + 5 Terre Verte + 2 Burnt Umber. Other sets use different tubes because tinting strength varies by brand — see the table above for Gamblin 1980 and Magicfly.
Can I mix brown without black?
Yes. None of the recipes above rely on black alone; where a dark is needed the engine prefers a deep colour or an earth so the mix stays lively. PaintMixLab has an “avoid black” option if your set includes black and you would rather not use it.
Why does my brown look different from the swatch?
Pigment batches, how much medium you use, the lighting and your screen all shift the result. Treat the ratio as a measured starting point: match the value first with white, then nudge the hue with the smallest tube in the recipe.
Does this recipe work for acrylic brown?
Roughly. Acrylic ranges share many pigment names, but acrylics dry darker and the tinting strengths differ, so expect to add a little extra white and re-check once dry.
Mix brown from a photo instead
Point PaintMixLab at the colour you actually see and it writes the recipe for your own paint set — free for 3 days.
