What color do brown and gold make?
Brown and Gold make olive.
Brown and Gold make olive, #c28500. That is the result in equal parts, mixing pigment rather than light - paint, ink and dye all behave this way.
Equal parts brown and gold · #c28500
Change the ratio
Very little of a mix is ever half and half. Shifting the balance moves the result along the range between the two colours.
3 parts brown, 1 part gold · #a36200
Equal parts · #c28500
1 part brown, 3 parts gold · #e0ac00
Lighter and darker
With white added - a tint · #d6b56c
With black added - a shade · #704d00
Why it works
Pigment mixes subtractively: brown paint absorbs the wavelengths it is not reflecting, gold absorbs its own set, and olive is what neither of them absorbed. This is why paint behaves differently from a screen, where light adds together instead.
Frequently asked questions
What color do brown and gold make?
Brown and Gold make olive, #c28500. Mixed in equal parts that is the result you get with paint, ink or any other pigment.
How do I make the result lighter or darker?
Add white for a tint - here that gives tan. Add black for a shade, which gives brown. Add white a little at a time, because it takes far less than people expect to shift a mix.
What happens if I use more brown than gold?
Three parts brown to one part gold gives rust. Reversing it to one part brown and three parts gold gives orange instead.
Does this work the same way on a screen?
No. Screens mix light additively, so red and green light make yellow there. These results are subtractive - paint, ink, dye and pigment - which is what people mean when they ask what two colours make.