What does red and lime make?
In paint, red and lime make a brown close to Milk Chocolate (#805020). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near Clementine Jelly, because light adds while pigment subtracts.
50% Red · 50% Lime
As paint
#805020
As light
#FFAC00
Theory
Why paint and light disagree
Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining red 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
- #805020
- RGB
- rgb(128, 80, 32)
- HSL
- hsl(30, 60%, 31%)
- CMYK
- cmyk(0%, 38%, 75%, 50%)
Closest named color: Grizzly. 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 lime make when mixed as paint?
- A brown close to Milk Chocolate (#805020). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
- What do red and lime make as light?
- A color near Clementine Jelly (#FFAC00). 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 lime?
- 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.