What color does blue and gray make when mixed as paint?

A blue close to Early Spring Night (#4040C0). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.

What do blue and gray make as light?

A color near Shady Neon Blue (#5656FF). Light mixes additively, so overlapping sources brighten instead of darkening, which is why screens and paint disagree about the same pair.

What happens with more blue than gray?

The result slides toward Blue along the mixing curve; the live slider on this page computes the paint and light result at any ratio, with the hex code of every step.

What does blue and gray make?

In paint, blue and gray make a blue close to Early Spring Night (#4040C0). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near Shady Neon Blue, because light adds while pigment subtracts.

50% Blue · 50% Gray

As paint

#4040C0

As light

#5656FF

Theory

Why paint and light disagree

Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining blue and gray removes more light than either alone and the result darkens. Screens and stage lights work the other way. Each light adds energy, so overlapping them moves the result toward white. The slider above computes both models at any ratio: the paint result uses red-yellow-blue pigment interpolation, the light result uses additive blending.

Reference

The 50/50 paint result, specified

HEX: #4040C0
RGB: rgb(64, 64, 192)
HSL: hsl(240, 50%, 50%)
CMYK: cmyk(67%, 67%, 0%, 25%)

Closest named color: Blurple. Real pigments vary by brand and binder, so treat these values as the screen approximation of a physical mix.

FAQ

Quick answers

What color does blue and gray make when mixed as paint?: A blue close to Early Spring Night (#4040C0). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
What do blue and gray make as light?: A color near Shady Neon Blue (#5656FF). Light mixes additively, so overlapping sources brighten instead of darkening, which is why screens and paint disagree about the same pair.
What happens with more blue than gray?: The result slides toward Blue along the mixing curve; the live slider on this page computes the paint and light result at any ratio, with the hex code of every step.