- Add RED, GREEN, and BLUE (RGB) light to create WHITE light. Because you ADD the colors together to get White, we call these the additive primaries.
Colors on screen are displayed by mixing varying amounts of red, green, and blue light. Keep in mind that the additive primaries typically refers to the RGB on-screen color mode. Mixing actual red, green, and blue inks or paints does not produce white.
- Subtract one of the RGB colors from the others and you are left with yet another color. RGB minus RED leaves CYAN. RGB minus the BLUE leaves YELLOW. RGB minus GREEN leaves MAGENTA. These are called the subtractive primaries (CMY).
Cyan, magenta, and yellow ink colors -- along with black -- are used in four-color process printing, also known as CMYK. Combining two of the subtractive primaries results in one of the additive primaries (for example, cyan + yellow produces green). Mixing all three of the subtractive primaries results in black (not a pure black, but a murky black-like color).
Next, we'll look at the way we try to reproduce color in print and on the Web.
