CMYK Color Mixer
Mix colours in the CMYK model used for printing — a subtractive blend of cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black). Set the parts of each ink-like colour and read the result in CMYK and hex.
Mixed like real paint, blue + yellow = green, red + yellow = orange and red + blue = purple — because pigments blend subtractively (RYB). Pick your colours below, set the parts of each, and get the exact result in hex, by name and in real paint.
CMYK is how colour works on paper. Printers lay down cyan, magenta and yellow inks, each absorbing one part of the spectrum, plus a key (black) plate for depth and clean text. It's a subtractive model — more ink means less light reflected — so it behaves like paint rather than like a screen.
This mixer converts each of your colours into cyan, magenta, yellow and key, blends them by the parts you set, and converts the result back to a hex value you can preview on screen. Bear in mind that a screen shows colour in RGB light, so a CMYK mix is always an approximation of what a press will actually print.
Use this mode when you're preparing artwork for printing, packaging or merch and want a feel for how inks combine. For the most accurate production colour you'd still proof against a printed swatch — and the nearest real paint shown below gives you a physical reference too.
The most-searched colour combinations — tap any to load it into the mixer (paint mode).
Looking to make a specific colour, or wondering what two colours make? These guides have the exact mixes — each with a live mixer and real paint.
Our color tools run on our own catalogue of 26,000+ real paint colors across 16 brands — Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Behr, Dulux, RAL and more — with the color math (HSL and CIELAB matching) computed in-house, not scraped from summaries. Every color you pick maps to a real, buyable paint with its code, so what you see here you can actually take to the store. We review and update these tools and their data regularly.
Created by Denis Kataev, founder of DSGN.HOUSE — a software engineer and digital entrepreneur building professional color-design tools for everyone.
What is CMYK colour mixing?+
CMYK is the subtractive model used in print: cyan, magenta, yellow and black inks combine on white paper. This mixer blends your colours in CMYK and converts the result back to hex/RGB, plus the nearest real paint.
What's the difference between RYB, RGB and CMYK mixing?+
RYB (paint) is how pigments combine on a canvas — red, yellow and blue are the primaries. RGB (light/screens) mixes brightness, so red + green makes yellow. CMYK is the subtractive model used in printing. Pick the model that matches what you're actually mixing.
Does it show the result as real paint?+
Yes — under the mixed colour it shows the nearest real, buyable paint across 16 brands (the closest match by colour distance, any brand), with its code, plus the colour's common name.
Why doesn't blue and yellow make grey here?+
Because the default mode mixes like real paint (subtractive / RYB): blue + yellow makes green, just like on a palette. Switch to RGB mode to mix like light, where the maths is an average of the red, green and blue channels instead.
Can I mix more than two colours?+
Yes — add as many colours as you like and give each one a number of parts. A 3:1 mix leans heavily to the first colour; equal parts give a straight blend. The result updates live.