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

A pink close to Purple (#800080). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.

What do red and blue make as light?

A color near Purple Potion (#AC00AC). 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 red than blue?

The result slides toward Red 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 red and blue make?

In paint, red and blue make a pink close to Purple (#800080). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near Purple Potion, because light adds while pigment subtracts.

50% Red · 50% Blue

As paint

#800080

As light

#AC00AC

Theory

Why paint and light disagree

Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining red and blue 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: #800080
RGB: rgb(128, 0, 128)
HSL: hsl(300, 100%, 25%)
CMYK: cmyk(0%, 100%, 0%, 50%)

Closest named color: Purple. 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 red and blue make when mixed as paint?: A pink close to Purple (#800080). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
What do red and blue make as light?: A color near Purple Potion (#AC00AC). 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 red than blue?: The result slides toward Red 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.