Colour mixing

Primary colours (paint)

Red, yellow and blue are the primary colours for paint. You can't make them by mixing other colours, but you can mix them to make lots of others.

Secondary colours (paint)

Mix two primary colours to make a secondary colour.

• Red+Yellow=Orange
• Yellow+Blue=Green
• Blue+Red=Purple

Tertiary colours (paint)

Mix a primary colour with the secondary colour next to it.

• Red-orangeRed + orange
• Yellow-orangeYellow + orange
• Yellow-greenYellow + green
• Blue-greenBlue + green
• Blue-purpleBlue + purple
• Red-purpleRed + purple

Lighter and darker

• Add white to make a colour lighter. This is called a tint.
• Add black to make a colour darker. This is called a shade.
• Mixing all three paint primaries together makes a muddy brown.

The colour wheel

A colour wheel puts the primary, secondary and tertiary colours in a circle. Each secondary colour sits between the two primaries that make it.

Complementary colours

Complementary colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel. Side by side, they make each other look brighter. Mixed together, they make a dull brown or grey.

• Red and Green
• Blue and Orange
• Yellow and Purple

Contrasting colours

Contrast means how different two colours look. High contrast makes things stand out and easy to see. Low contrast makes them blend in. There are a few kinds:

• Light and dark: a very light colour next to a very dark one, like yellow on navy.
• Complementary: opposite colours on the wheel, like orange on blue.
• Warm and cool: warm colours (reds, oranges, yellows) feel like sunshine and fire. Cool colours (blues, greens, purples) feel like water and shade. A warm colour stands out on a cool one.

• Hello!Easy to seeLight yellow on dark navy
• Hello!Easy to seeOrange on blue (complementary)
• Hello!Hard to seePale yellow on white
• Hello!Hard to seeGreen on green

Colours of light

Light mixes differently from paint. Screens like TVs and tablets use red, green and blue light. Mixing all three makes white light.