How to use the color mixing calculator
- Add your colors. Tap a color to add one part of it. Tap it again for a second part, so two taps of red and one of blue mean two parts red to one part blue.
- Adjust the parts. In Your mix, use the minus and plus buttons next to each color. A color goes away when its parts reach zero, and each color takes up to 10 parts.
- Read the result. The calculator names the color on the painter's color wheel, such as red-orange or olive, and shows a preview swatch. When you mix only red, green and blue, it also says what the same colors make as light.
- Save or share it. Copy mix link keeps the colors and parts in a link. The links in the chart below open each mix in the calculator.
Color mixing chart
One part of each color, mixed as paint on the traditional red, yellow and blue color wheel. Swatches are on-screen previews; real paints vary with the pigment.
| Mix | Makes |
|---|---|
| Red + orange | red-orange |
| Red + yellow | orange |
| Red + green | brown |
| Red + blue | purple |
| Red + purple | red-purple |
| Red + white | pink |
| Red + black | maroon |
| Orange + yellow | yellow-orange |
| Orange + green | olive |
| Orange + blue | brown |
| Orange + purple | reddish brown |
| Orange + white | light orange |
| Orange + black | brown |
| Yellow + green | yellow-green |
| Yellow + blue | green |
| Yellow + purple | brown |
| Yellow + white | light yellow |
| Yellow + black | olive |
| Green + blue | blue-green |
| Green + purple | slate |
| Green + white | light green |
| Green + black | dark green |
| Blue + purple | blue-purple |
| Blue + white | light blue |
| Blue + black | dark blue |
| Purple + white | light purple |
| Purple + black | dark purple |
| White + black | gray |
What colors make…
- Purple: red and blue.
- Green: yellow and blue.
- Orange: red and yellow.
- Brown: red and green, orange and blue, yellow and purple or orange and black.
- Pink: red and white.
- Gray: white and black.
- Maroon: red and black.
- Olive: yellow and black or orange and green.
- Blue-green: green and blue.
- Light blue: blue and white.
- Tan: brown and white.
The three primaries, red, yellow and blue, cannot be mixed from other paints. Every other color on the wheel comes from them: two primaries make a secondary (orange, green, purple), and a primary with the secondary next to it makes a tertiary, such as red-orange or blue-green. Mixing colors from opposite sides of the wheel brings in the third primary, and the result turns toward brown.
Paint versus light
Paint, ink and crayons mix by taking light away: each pigment soaks up part of the light, so the more colors you add, the darker and duller the mix. Their primaries are red, yellow and blue (printers use cyan, magenta and yellow). Screens mix the other way, by adding light. Their primaries are red, green and blue: red and green light make yellow, red and blue make magenta, green and blue make cyan, and all three make white. That is why red and green make brown on a palette but yellow on a phone screen.
How the calculator works
Each color is stored as an amount of red, yellow and blue pigment, plus white or black for lighter and darker colors. Orange, for example, is red and yellow together, and pink is red with white. A mix adds up the pigment of every part and then brings the strongest pigment back to full strength, because mixing two bright paints does not make the result paler. The name comes from where the mix lands on the 12-color painter's wheel; when a lot of the third primary is in the mix, the hue is grayed down to brown, olive, slate or plum. The preview swatch converts the pigment amounts to screen colors with a published red-yellow-blue color model, so it is an approximation of the paint, not a match for any brand.
Frequently asked questions
What do red and blue make?
Red and blue paint make purple. More red than blue gives red-purple, and more blue than red gives blue-purple. With light, as on a screen, red and blue make magenta.
What two colors make brown?
Any pair that holds all three primaries between them: red and green, orange and blue, or yellow and purple. These pairs sit opposite each other on the color wheel. Orange and black make brown too, and white turns brown into tan.
What do red and green make?
In paint, red and green make brown, because green is yellow and blue, so the mix holds all three primaries. In light, as on a screen, red and green make yellow.
Why does my paint mix look different?
Real pigments are not perfect primaries. A cool red such as crimson and a blue such as ultramarine make a cleaner purple than an orange-leaning red and a green-leaning blue. The calculator follows the traditional painter's color wheel, so read the name as what to expect and the swatch as an approximate preview.
How is mixing light different from mixing paint?
Paint absorbs light, so every color you add takes some away and mixes get darker and duller. Light adds up instead: red, green and blue are its primaries, red and green light make yellow, and all three together make white.
Is the color mixing calculator free?
Yes. It is free, with no account and no download, and it runs in your browser. A mix link keeps the colors and parts in the link itself.