What does yellow and pink make?

In paint, yellow and pink make a yellow close to Williams Pear Yellow (#E0CA66). Mixed as light, the same pair gives a result near Cinque Foil, because light adds while pigment subtracts.

50% Yellow · 50% Pink

As paint

#E0CA66

As light

#FFFF89

Theory

Why paint and light disagree

Pigments work by absorbing light: each paint removes part of the spectrum, so combining yellow and pink 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
#E0CA66
RGB
rgb(224, 202, 102)
HSL
hsl(49, 66%, 64%)
CMYK
cmyk(0%, 10%, 54%, 12%)

Closest named color: Sand. 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 yellow and pink make when mixed as paint?
A yellow close to Williams Pear Yellow (#E0CA66). Pigments subtract light, so the mix is darker and duller than either parent; exact results vary by brand and binder.
What do yellow and pink make as light?
A color near Cinque Foil (#FFFF89). 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 yellow than pink?
The result slides toward Yellow 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.

Popular colors

Jump to

Type a color name, a hex code, or a tool. Esc closes.

Open this color's page