How to Mix Brown in Acrylic

A neutral mid brown. The base every other brown starts from. This guide gives you the pigment ratios that land on #6F4E37 in acrylic, using the same solver that powers the Chromilla mixer.

Target

Brown

#6F4E37

Mixed result

99% match

From these pigments

#704F38

Pigment recipe

Ratios calibrated for acrylic. Start with the dominant pigment, add the modifiers in the order below, and adjust in 5% steps to your target swatch.

  1. 1. Yellow Ochre

    PY43

    54%
  2. 2. Ultramarine Blue

    PB29

    26%
  3. 3. Alizarin Crimson

    PR83

    20%

What colours make Brown?

Yellow Ochre, Ultramarine Blue, and Alizarin Crimson, in roughly a 54:26:20 ratio.

How to make Brown in acrylic

Start with Yellow Ochre at about 54% as your acrylic base, then work in Ultramarine Blue and Alizarin Crimson in the order above. Adjust in 5% steps until the swatch reads #6F4E37.

Why mix Brown instead of buying it

Mixing Brown yourself lets you approximate an expensive or hard to find tube from pigments you already own, match Brown across paint brands whose factory tubes differ, and rebuild the exact colour when you run out mid painting. The recipe above is the working starting point.

Common mistakes

Overshooting on Yellow Ochre is the usual failure, add it in 5% steps and compare against the target between each pass.

Get this recipe for your paint brand

Open the live mixer with Brown + acrylic pre-loaded and calibrate to your tubes.

Open in mixer

Deep-dive guide

How to mix Brown, the long version

Common mistakes, per-brand recipes, and the honest limits when the target sits outside what real paint can reach.

Read the guide

Related mixing guides

Pigment mixing is subtractive, so small ratio changes matter. The mixer refines this recipe to your brand and updates on the fly.