Short answer: tan is a light, warm brown. The simplest way to make it is to mix brown + white, then add a touch of yellow if it looks too gray. If you don't have brown, you can mix red, yellow and blue first (see our guide to what colors make brown), or skip brown and mix orange + white + a little blue.
Below are three reliable recipes, how to adjust the shade, and how tan differs from beige, sand and khaki.
| Recipe | Result | When to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Brown + white + a little yellow | A classic warm tan | The easiest if you already have brown |
| Orange + white + a tiny bit of blue | A softer, slightly cooler tan | When you have no brown |
| Yellow + a little red + a tiny bit of blue or green, then white | A golden tan | Good for sand and straw |
Start with a small blob of brown. Add white a little at a time until the color is as light as you want. If it looks pinkish or gray, add a small dot of yellow. This is the recipe most artists use because it's quick and easy to correct.
Mix orange (red + yellow) with white until it looks like a peach. Then add the smallest amount of blue you can. Blue is the opposite of orange, so it mutes the color toward brown without making it dark. Add the blue on the tip of a brush, not a spoonful.
Mix yellow with a smaller amount of red, then add a little blue or green to dull it down. Finish with white to lighten. This gives a golden, sandy tan.
| You want | Do this |
|---|---|
| Lighter tan | Add more white |
| Darker tan | Add more brown, or a dot of blue |
| Warmer tan | Add a touch of yellow or orange |
| Cooler tan | Add a touch of blue or gray |
| Less pink | Add a little yellow |
| Less yellow | Add a little brown |
Always add the darker or stronger color in tiny amounts. It's much easier to darken a color than to lighten it.
These words overlap, but artists use them a bit differently.
If you're matching a specific color, mix it in small test patches on scrap paper and let them dry. Paint often looks different after it dries.
Paint (acrylic, watercolor, gouache). Follow the recipes above. With watercolor, add water instead of white to lighten the color, since white paint makes it chalky. For watercolor tips, our watercolor pencils guide explains how water changes color.
Colored pencils. Layer a light brown or orange over a base of yellow, then add a feather-light layer of blue or gray to mute it. Use a white pencil to blend. See how to color with colored pencils for layering.
Crayons. Press lightly with yellow, then a little orange, and finish with a very light brown on top. If your crayon box has a tan, beige or "sand" color, use it.
Markers. Alcohol markers can blend a light brown and a pale yellow. A pale orange or "skin" marker with a gray over the top also works. See best markers for coloring.
Tan is a muted, light version of orange. On the color wheel, orange sits next to yellow and opposite blue. That's why a tiny bit of blue works to calm orange down: opposites cancel each other's brightness. Adding white raises the lightness, and the two together give you the soft, dusty look of tan. Once you know this, you can make almost any earth tone by starting from the color you want and nudging it with its opposite.
Tan is a common color in drawings and coloring pages:
When you color a lion or a dog, use two or three tans instead of one. A darker tan for shading, a lighter one for highlights, and a golden one for the main body makes the animal look rounded. Our animal coloring pages and dinosaur coloring pages are good places to practice.
Mix a small batch of brown and white, then split it into three cups. Leave one as is. Add a dot of yellow to the second, and a dot of blue to the third. Paint a stripe of each. You'll see a warm tan, a golden tan and a cool, dusty tan. Kids can name each one, such as "sandcastle," "lion" and "old paper," and use them on the same coloring page.
Tan sits between a few color families. For the full set, try our color mixing chart, and learn how warm and cool tones feel in warm and cool colors. You can also use the AI coloring page generator to make a page with a desert scene, a lion or a basket, then practice your tan shades on it.
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