Color Mixing Chart
See which colors make which: primary, secondary and tertiary mixes, plus a simple guide to warm and cool mixes, lightening and darkening, and paint versus screen light.
Screen approximation Last updated:
Primary mixes: make the secondary colors
This color mixing chart starts with the three traditional artist's primaries: red, yellow and blue. Mix any two in equal parts and you get a secondary color.
Red + Yellow = Orange#EC882D
Yellow + Blue = Green#8D9FA3
Red + Blue = Purple#8E578B
Tertiary mixes: six in-between colors
Mix a primary with the secondary next to it on the wheel and you get a tertiary color, named with the primary first.
Red + Orange = Red-orange#E35E2F
Yellow + Orange = Yellow-orange#F3AF28
Yellow + Green = Yellow-green#C1BB7B
Blue + Green = Blue-green#5B7FBE
Blue + Purple = Blue-purple#655BB0
Red + Purple = Red-purple#B34963
The full mixing colors chart
Read across and down: each cell is the equal-parts mix of its row and column. Where the two are the same, you get the color itself. White and black are included so you can see how mixing to lighten and darken behaves.
| Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue | Purple | White | Black | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red | #D7262E | #E35E2F | #EC882D | #BB726C | #8E578B | #B34963 | #F59E96 | #52080B |
| Orange | #E35E2F | #EC882D | #F3AF28 | #C09774 | #907B97 | #BB726C | #F9C59F | #5B310B |
| Yellow | #EC882D | #F3AF28 | #F6D51C | #C1BB7B | #8D9FA3 | #C09774 | #FAEBA7 | #5F5105 |
| Green | #BB726C | #C09774 | #C1BB7B | #8D9FA3 | #5B7FBE | #907C97 | #C5CED0 | #333B3C |
| Blue | #8E578B | #907B97 | #8D9FA3 | #5B7FBE | #2F56D3 | #655BB0 | #91ADEE | #0C1C51 |
| Purple | #B34963 | #BB726C | #C09774 | #907C97 | #655BB0 | #8E578B | #C7A9C4 | #341C32 |
| White | #F59E96 | #F9C59F | #FAEBA7 | #C5CED0 | #91ADEE | #C7A9C4 | #FFFFFF | #636363 |
| Black | #52080B | #5B310B | #5F5105 | #333B3C | #0C1C51 | #341C32 | #636363 | #000000 |
Want to try your own pair or change the ratio? Open the color mixer, which blends any two or three colors and gives you HEX, RGB and HSL.
Warm vs cool mixes
Reds, oranges and yellows read as warm; blues, greens and purples read as cool. Most colors also have a warm and a cool version: a red that leans orange is warm, while one that leans purple is cool. This matters in mixing because the lean of each color decides how clean the result is. A cool, purple-leaning red mixed with a blue makes a bright purple. A warm, orange-leaning red mixed with the same blue sends a little yellow into the mix, which dulls the purple toward brown or grey.
A useful habit is to choose your mixing partners by temperature. For a vivid green, use a yellow that leans cool (slightly green) with a blue that leans warm (slightly green too). For a calmer, earthier green, use a warm yellow and a cool blue.
Mixing to lighten and darken
To lighten a color, mix it with white. The result is a tint. To darken it, add black, which gives a shade. The strips below show each hue lightened with equal parts white and darkened with three parts color to one part black.
RedBase · tint · shade
OrangeBase · tint · shade
YellowBase · tint · shade
GreenBase · tint · shade
BlueBase · tint · shade
PurpleBase · tint · shade
Go in small steps. White is strong and can wash out a color fast; black can turn yellow into a murky olive. If a shade looks flat, try a darker color from nearby on the wheel, such as a deep blue added to purple, or a little of the complement. To get a full ramp of steps, use the Tints and shades tab on the color mixer online.
How paint differs from screen light
Screens create color by adding light. Red, green and blue lights combine, so mixing all three gives white. Paint works the other way: pigments absorb some wavelengths and reflect the rest, so each added pigment takes more light away and the mix gets darker. This is called subtractive mixing, and it is why paint mixes often look more muted than the same mix on a screen.
The "primaries" differ, too. Artists traditionally use red, yellow and blue. Printers use cyan, magenta and yellow. Screens use red, green and blue light. The chart on this page uses the artist's set but computes each mix on a screen, in a perceptual color space called OKLab. Treat it as a good guide to which colors lead where, not as a promise about a particular tube of paint.
A note on accuracy
Real paints, inks and pigments vary by brand, binder, thickness and even batch. Yellow and blue, for instance, make a bright green with some pairs and a dull one with others. If your results differ from this chart, nothing is wrong: your pigments are just different. Mix a small test patch, let it dry (many paints shift as they dry) and write down the ratio you used.
Frequently asked questions
What colors make each other on a mixing chart?
With the traditional artist's primaries, red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and red and blue make purple. Mixing a primary with its neighboring secondary gives the six tertiary colors such as red-orange and blue-green.
How do you make a color darker without using black?
Add a little of its complement (the opposite color on the wheel) or a deep neutral such as dark brown or deep blue. This darkens it while keeping the color alive, whereas black alone can look flat or dirty.
Why does my paint mix look muddier than the chart?
Mixing three or more pigments, or two that sit near opposite sides of the wheel, cancels out saturation and gives a brown or grey. Real pigments also reflect stray colors, so a "blue" that leans purple will make a duller green with yellow.
Is red, yellow and blue or cyan, magenta and yellow the right primary set?
Both are used. Red, yellow and blue is the classic set taught in art classes. Cyan, magenta and yellow is the set used in printing and gives a wider range of clean mixes. Screens use red, green and blue light instead.
Is this chart exact for my paint set?
No. It is a screen approximation. Pigments differ between brands and even between tubes, so use the chart to plan and test a small batch with your own paint.