What color do red and blue make?
Red and Blue make purple.
Red and Blue make purple, #800080. That is the result in equal parts, mixing pigment rather than light - paint, ink and dye all behave this way.
Equal parts red and blue · #800080
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 blue · #d5002b
Equal parts · #800080
1 part red, 3 parts blue · #463f91
Lighter and darker
With white added - a tint · #c080c0
With black added - a shade · #4d004d
Why it works
Pigment mixes subtractively: red paint absorbs the wavelengths it is not reflecting, blue absorbs its own set, and purple 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 red and blue make?
Red and Blue make purple, #800080. 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 lavender. Add black for a shade, which gives indigo. 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 blue?
Three parts red to one part blue gives crimson. Reversing it to one part red and three parts blue gives indigo 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.