How to Mix Brown in Watercolor
A neutral mid brown. The base every other brown starts from. This guide gives you the pigment ratios that land on #6F4E37 in watercolour, using the same solver that powers the Chromilla mixer.
Target
Brown
#6F4E37
Mixed result
99% matchFrom these pigments
#704F38
Pigment recipe
Ratios calibrated for watercolour. Start with the dominant pigment, add the modifiers in the order below, and adjust in 5% steps to your target swatch.
1. Yellow Ochre
PY43
54%2. Ultramarine Blue
PB29
26%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 watercolour
Start with Yellow Ochre at about 54% as your watercolour 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 + watercolour pre-loaded and calibrate to your tubes.
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 guideRelated mixing guides
Pigment mixing is subtractive, so small ratio changes matter. The mixer refines this recipe to your brand and updates on the fly.