What color do purple and brown make?
Purple and Brown make maroon.
Purple and Brown make maroon, #7e172a. That is the result in equal parts, mixing pigment rather than light - paint, ink and dye all behave this way.
Equal parts purple and brown · #7e172a
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 purple, 1 part brown · #7e0a50
Equal parts · #7e172a
1 part purple, 3 parts brown · #81290d
Lighter and darker
With white added - a tint · #b17882
With black added - a shade · #490d18
Why it works
Pigment mixes subtractively: purple paint absorbs the wavelengths it is not reflecting, brown absorbs its own set, and maroon 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 purple and brown make?
Purple and Brown make maroon, #7e172a. 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 light purple. Add black for a shade, which gives maroon. 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 purple than brown?
Three parts purple to one part brown gives purple. Reversing it to one part purple and three parts brown gives brown 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.