What color do yellow and grey make?
Yellow and Grey make sage.
Yellow and Grey make sage, #b3b343. That is the result in equal parts, mixing pigment rather than light - paint, ink and dye all behave this way.
Equal parts yellow and grey · #b3b343
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 yellow, 1 part grey · #d9d929
Equal parts · #b3b343
1 part yellow, 3 parts grey · #8c8c4f
Lighter and darker
With white added - a tint · #cccc99
With black added - a shade · #66661a
Why it works
Pigment mixes subtractively: yellow paint absorbs the wavelengths it is not reflecting, grey absorbs its own set, and sage 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 yellow and grey make?
Yellow and Grey make sage, #b3b343. 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 tan. Add black for a shade, which gives olive. 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 yellow than grey?
Three parts yellow to one part grey gives gold. Reversing it to one part yellow and three parts grey gives sage 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.