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

A cyan close to Maximum Blue Green (#40C0C0). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.

What do gray and cyan make as light?

A color near CGA Blue (#56FFFF). 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 gray than cyan?

The result slides toward Gray 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 gray and cyan make?

In paint, gray and cyan make a cyan close to Maximum Blue Green (#40C0C0). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near CGA Blue, because light adds while pigment subtracts.

50% Gray · 50% Cyan

As paint

#40C0C0

As light

#56FFFF

Theory

Why paint and light disagree

Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining gray and cyan 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: #40C0C0
RGB: rgb(64, 192, 192)
HSL: hsl(180, 50%, 50%)
CMYK: cmyk(67%, 0%, 0%, 25%)

Closest named color: Verdigris. 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 gray and cyan make when mixed as paint?: A cyan close to Maximum Blue Green (#40C0C0). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
What do gray and cyan make as light?: A color near CGA Blue (#56FFFF). 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 gray than cyan?: The result slides toward Gray 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.