# Color Mixer

> Red, yellow and blue mixed together make brown - and so does any pair of complementary colours, such as orange and blue or purple and yellow. This mixer uses the red-yellow-blue model that paint, ink and pigment actually follow, so blue and yellow make green here, the way they do on a palette. Screen colours work the opposite way, which is why a monitor mixes red and green into yellow.

Source: https://rankcert.com/tools/color-mixer
Free, no signup. Updated: 2026-09-11

## How to use it

1. Tap the paints you are mixing, or pick one of the common questions.
2. Read the result swatch, its name and its hex value.
3. Add white to tint it lighter or black to shade it darker.

## What mixes into what

These are subtractive, pigment mixes - paint, ink and dye. Light mixes additively and gives different results.

| Mix | Result | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Red + yellow | Orange | More red gives scarlet, more yellow gives amber |
| Blue + yellow | Green | More blue gives teal, more yellow gives lime |
| Red + blue | Purple | More red gives magenta, more blue gives indigo |
| Red + yellow + blue | Brown | Equal parts trends towards near-black |
| Orange + blue | Brown | Complementary pair, the classic way to mix brown |
| Purple + yellow | Brown | Also complementary, warmer result |
| Green + red | Brown | The third complementary pair |
| Any colour + white | A tint | Red plus white is pink, blue plus white is sky blue |
| Any colour + black | A shade | Yellow plus black is olive, orange plus black is brown |

## Questions

### What colors make brown?

Red, yellow and blue together, or any complementary pair: orange and blue, purple and yellow, or green and red. Start with orange and add blue a little at a time - it is the easiest of the three to control.

### What colors make green?

Blue and yellow. More yellow moves it towards lime and spring green, more blue towards teal and forest green. Adding a touch of red mutes it into olive or sage.

### What colors make orange?

Red and yellow. Equal parts give a true orange; more yellow gives amber and more red gives scarlet. Adding a little blue dulls it towards terracotta.

### What colors make purple?

Red and blue. The result depends heavily on which red and which blue - a warm red gives magenta and a cool blue gives indigo. A touch of white lifts it to lavender.

### What colors make pink?

Red and white. Pink is a tint rather than a mix, so the more white you add the paler it gets. A speck of blue makes it cooler, a speck of yellow makes it coral.

### Why does blue and yellow make green in paint but not on screen?

Paint is subtractive: each pigment absorbs wavelengths, and what is left over is what you see. Screens are additive: they emit light, so red and green light make yellow. Same colours, opposite arithmetic.

### What are the primary colors?

For paint and pigment, red, yellow and blue - they cannot be mixed from anything else. For printing it is cyan, magenta and yellow, and for screens it is red, green and blue. The right set depends on the medium.

### What is a complementary color?

The colour opposite on the wheel: red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple. Placed side by side they intensify each other; mixed together they cancel into brown or grey.

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