What Colors Make Navy?
Blue and black make navy. Using brown or burnt umber instead of black gives a deeper, less flat navy.
Blue + Black = Navy
Blue
8 parts
Black
a touch
Navy
The direct route. Black kills blue very fast — add a speck at a time or you will end up with near-black.
Blue + Brown = Navy
Blue
6 parts
Brown
1 part
Navy
The painter’s navy. Brown darkens blue without the dead, chalky look black gives, and lets you steer it warm or cool.
Blue + Orange (a touch) = Navy
Blue
8 parts
Orange
a speck
Navy
Orange is blue’s complement, so a speck darkens and neutralises it into navy without adding a third pigment.
Adjusting your navy
To lighten: Add white for slate, denim and cadet blue.
To darken: Add more black for midnight blue and near-black.
To mute or soften: Add a touch more orange or brown for a softer, weathered navy.
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), navy is simply a dark blue — low-brightness blue light with very little red or green, e.g. #1B2A4A.
Frequently asked about making navy
What colors make navy?
Blue and black make navy. Using brown or burnt umber instead of black gives a deeper, less flat navy.
What two colors make navy?
Blue + Black makes navy. The direct route. Black kills blue very fast — add a speck at a time or you will end up with near-black.
How do you make navy lighter or darker?
Add white for slate, denim and cadet blue. Add more black for midnight blue and near-black.
Is mixing navy paint the same as mixing navy light?
No. Paint mixes subtractively while light mixes additively. With light (RGB), navy is simply a dark blue — low-brightness blue light with very little red or green, e.g. #1B2A4A.