What Colors Make Blue?
Blue is a primary colour in paint — it cannot be mixed from other colours. In printing (CMYK) it is made from cyan and magenta.
Blue is a primary color in paint. It cannot be created by mixing other pigments — it has to come from a tube or a dye. The recipes below are the closest approximations, or the way blue is produced in other color models.
Cyan + Magenta = Blue
Cyan
2 parts
Magenta
1 part
Blue
In the CMYK model, cyan plus magenta produces blue. This is how blue is created in print.
Adjusting your blue
To lighten: Add white for sky, powder and baby blue.
To darken: Add a little black for navy and midnight blue.
To mute or soften: Add a touch of orange (its complement) for slate and denim blue.
Mixing paint vs. mixing light
The recipes above describe subtractive mixing — how paint, ink and pigment behave. Each pigment absorbs part of the spectrum, so the more you add, the darker the mixture gets.
Screens work the opposite way, using additive mixing with red, green and blue light: the more you add, the brighter it gets. With light (RGB), blue is a primary — screens emit it directly, e.g. #1F4EA1.
Frequently asked about making blue
What colors make blue?
Blue is a primary colour in paint — it cannot be mixed from other colours. In printing (CMYK) it is made from cyan and magenta.
What two colors make blue?
Cyan + Magenta makes blue. In the CMYK model, cyan plus magenta produces blue. This is how blue is created in print.
How do you make blue lighter or darker?
Add white for sky, powder and baby blue. Add a little black for navy and midnight blue.
Is mixing blue paint the same as mixing blue light?
No. Paint mixes subtractively while light mixes additively. With light (RGB), blue is a primary — screens emit it directly, e.g. #1F4EA1.