What color do red and green make?
Red and Green make brown.
Red and Green make brown, #593314. That is the result in equal parts, mixing pigment rather than light - paint, ink and dye all behave this way.
Equal parts red and green · #593314
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 red, 1 part green · #d0221f
Equal parts · #593314
1 part red, 3 parts green · #1e8129
Lighter and darker
With white added - a tint · #ac998a
With black added - a shade · #351f0c
Why it works
Red and Green sit opposite each other on the colour wheel, which makes them complementary. Complementary pigments cancel each other's reflected light, and what survives is a muted brown. Every complementary pair does this - it is the standard way to mix brown without a brown tube.
Frequently asked questions
What color do red and green make?
Red and Green make brown, #593314. 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 sage. Add black for a shade, which gives black. 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 red than green?
Three parts red to one part green gives crimson. Reversing it to one part red and three parts green gives green 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.