How to Mix Red Brown (Maroon Red)

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This article was co-written by Kelly Medford. Kelly Medford is an American painter living in Rome, Italy. She majored in classical painting, drawing and printmaking in the US and Italy. She mainly works on the streets in Rome and also travels for international collectors organizations. She founded Sketching Rome Tours in 2012, where she teaches sketching techniques to visitors to Rome. Kelly graduated from the Florence Academy of Art.

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Sepia is a deep burgundy red that many people enjoy when choosing paints or dyes. Red-brown, like other colors, is a combination of red, blue and yellow. There is no exact ratio of colors used to make sepia because the result is usually determined by the true tones of red, blue, and yellow you used. However, by experimenting, you’ll learn how to create a reddish-brown color.

Table of Contents

Mix red brown

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Choose basic red, blue, and yellow paint or dye. Red-brown color is mixed from red and blue. Yellow is generally used to add brown tones when needed. Using standard primary colors is often very effective in creating new colors. If you’re not using a base color, you should do some research online or read the information on the bottle of paint or dye very carefully to determine the shades and see if the color is suitable for creating a reddish brown. ^{[1] X Research Source}

For example, cadmium red has a yellow tint. If you mix this color with blue, and then add yellow, the color you get will be very pale.
In contrast, rose madder is a cool red with a blue background. You will get purple when you mix this color with blue so it will need to be adjusted with yellow. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Mix red and blue in a ratio of 5:1. Blue is a darker color, so it easily overwhelms red and creates a blue-tinted red instead of a true sepia tone. So you’ll need a lot of red to blend, with a ratio of 5 parts red to 1 part blue. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Add only a little paint at a time to avoid waste. Once you have determined the correct proportions of the paint colors, you can mix a large amount of red-brown paint. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Add yellow until reddish brown. Blue and red will produce tones from purple to dark brown depending on the standard of the paint. A little yellow can turn the original red and blue paint mixture into a reddish brown. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

Start with a drop or two of yellow add to the mixture and stir well. Continue adding a few drops of yellow until the mixture turns a reddish brown color.

Determine the tint of the paint color with white paint. The perfect russet will have a deep red tint. Since sepia is a dark color, it will be difficult for you to determine the shade of the color you just created. To define the tint, you’ll add some white to your sepia paint. The color you see when you add white is the tint of the paint. However, you only take a small amount of paint to test the tint instead of adding white to the entire paint causing the color to change. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

If your sepia has more shades of purple than red, you’ll adjust by adding yellow paint.

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Preserve the red-brown paint by any method you like. Use a paint or dye container to store the finished product as soon as you’re done mixing. Because paint takes time to get to the right color, premixing paint will help you paint quickly when you need it. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

Besides, you should note down the ratio of paint used and how to adjust to create a reddish brown color. That way, you can later create a similar color using that formula.

Avoid making mistakes

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Do a color test. Don’t rush to use red-brown paint or dye right away. It’s a good idea to test how the paint and dye will look when it dries to make sure it’s the color you want. Dab some paint or dye on a piece of scratch paper. Wait for the paint to dry and check to see if you like the color.

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Choose only monochromatic colors. When mixing paint colors, it is best to choose a paint with a monochromatic color. Too much pigment can cause color to darken; so you should make sure the red, yellow, and blue colors you use are monochromatic. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

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Add dark color to light color. Lightening dark colors takes a lot of paint, time and effort. On the contrary, you just need to add a little dark paint to make the light color bold. You should try to create a light brownish red first because it is always easier to make a light color darker. ^{[9] X Research Source}

Steps

Mix red brown

Avoid making mistakes

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