What does pink and cyan make?
In paint, pink and cyan make a blue close to Pool Floor (#80AFE5). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near Affen Turquoise, because light adds while pigment subtracts.
50% Pink · 50% Cyan
As paint
#80AFE5
As light
#ACFFFF
Theory
Why paint and light disagree
Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining pink 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
- #80AFE5
- RGB
- rgb(128, 175, 229)
- HSL
- hsl(212, 66%, 70%)
- CMYK
- cmyk(44%, 24%, 0%, 10%)
Closest named color: Fly Away. 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 pink and cyan make when mixed as paint?
- A blue close to Pool Floor (#80AFE5). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
- What do pink and cyan make as light?
- A color near Affen Turquoise (#ACFFFF). 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 pink than cyan?
- The result slides toward Pink 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.