What does cyan and lime make?
In paint, cyan and lime make a green close to Waystone Green (#20BF00). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near Lunatic Sky Dancer, because light adds while pigment subtracts.
50% Cyan · 50% Lime
As paint
#20BF00
As light
#81FFAC
Theory
Why paint and light disagree
Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining cyan and lime 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
- #20BF00
- RGB
- rgb(32, 191, 0)
- HSL
- hsl(110, 100%, 37%)
- CMYK
- cmyk(83%, 0%, 100%, 25%)
Closest named color: Luigi. 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 cyan and lime make when mixed as paint?
- A green close to Waystone Green (#20BF00). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
- What do cyan and lime make as light?
- A color near Lunatic Sky Dancer (#81FFAC). 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 cyan than lime?
- The result slides toward Cyan 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.