Red is a primary color that can be made by mixing other colors together. The two most common simple colors that are blended to create red are yellow and magenta.
The Basics of Color Theory
In color theory, there are three primary colors – red, yellow and blue. These are called primary colors because they cannot be created by mixing other colors together. Instead, all other colors are derived from some combination of these three primary colors.
There are also three secondary colors – orange, green and purple. Secondary colors are created by mixing two primary colors together. For example, red and yellow make orange, blue and yellow make green, and blue and red make purple.
Tertiary colors are made by combining a primary color with a secondary color. There are six tertiary colors – red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple.
The color wheel shows the relationship between the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. It demonstrates how the three primary colors are equally spaced around the wheel, with the three secondary colors located between them, and the tertiary colors filling in the gaps.
| Primary Colors | Red | Yellow | Blue | |||
| Secondary Colors | Orange | Green | Purple | |||
| Tertiary Colors | Red-orange | Yellow-orange | Yellow-green | Blue-green | Blue-purple | Red-purple |
Understanding these color relationships is helpful when trying to mix colors to create a desired shade.
Mixing Colors to Make Red
Keeping color theory in mind, we know that red is a primary color and cannot be created by mixing other primary colors together. However, red can be made by mixing the two secondary colors on either side of it on the color wheel: orange and purple.
Orange contains red and yellow. Purple contains red and blue. By mixing these two secondary colors, the blue and yellow cancel each other out, leaving just red.
More specifically, red can be made by mixing the primary color yellow with the secondary color magenta. Magenta is a reddish-purple color made from combining the primary colors red and blue.
Yellow and magenta are considered “simple” colors because they cannot be created by mixing two other colors. Yellow is a primary color and magenta is a secondary color. Combining these two simple colors produces the color red.
Mixing Paint, Light and Pigments
The above principles apply whether mixing paint, light or pigments. For example:
- With paint, mixing yellow paint with magenta paint makes red paint.
- With light, shining yellow light and magenta light together produces red light.
- With pigments, combining yellow pigments and magenta pigments creates red pigments.
The same color theory concepts apply to all these mediums. Yellow and magenta make red regardless of whether mixing paints, lights or pigments.
Exact Shades and Tones
It’s worth noting that the exact shade and tone of red created by mixing yellow and magenta together can vary depending on the specific yellow and magenta hues used.
A bright primary yellow mixed with a deep reddish magenta will produce a vivid, fire engine red. Mixing a pale yellow with a light magenta will create a soft pinkish-red. The amount of each color used also impacts the final red tone.
So while yellow and magenta are always the two colors that make red, the yellow and magenta can be adjusted to change the red’s brightness, darkness and intensity.
Other Ways to Make Red
In addition to mixing yellow and magenta, there are a couple other ways to make red:
- Mixing other warm colors – Any combination of warm colors like orange, yellow and magenta will produce a shade of red. The more yellow and magenta, the redder it will be.
- Starting with white – Adding red pigment or paint to white will darken the white into a pink or red, depending on how much is added.
- Low intensity – Combining all the primary colors together makes a low intensity brownish-red. Not an ideal red, but red nonetheless.
While these methods work, they are less reliable than simply mixing yellow and magenta to produce a clean, pure red.
Why Yellow and Magenta Make Red
Understanding some basic principles of light and physics explains why combining yellow and magenta light creates red light.
White light contains all the colors of the visible spectrum. Red light has a wavelength of approximately 700 nm, green light is around 500 nm, and blue light is close to 400 nm. Our eyes have receptors that detect these different wavelengths as distinct colors.
When all the wavelengths are combined together, we perceive it as white light. If certain wavelengths are filtered out, then only some colors will be transmitted or reflected, and we will see specific hues.
Yellow light has wavelengths around 580 nm. Magenta light is a mix of red 700 nm and blue 400 nm wavelengths. When yellow and magenta light mix, the medium blue and green wavelengths are canceled out. The remaining wavelengths transmitted are the long red ones, so we see the resulting color as red.
In this way, combining yellow and magenta pigments, paints or other media will also filter out all but the long red wavelengths for our eyes to detect the color red. The principles of light physics and color perception explain why mixing yellow and magenta make red.
Uses and Applications
Understanding that yellow and magenta make red is useful for a number of practical applications:
- Paint mixing – Artists can mix custom reds by blending yellow and magenta paints.
- Color correction – Reducing yellow and magenta tones can correct unwanted red cast in photos.
- Printing/design – Combining yellow and magenta inks or pixels makes a range of red hues.
- Textiles – Dyers can mix yellow and magenta dyes to achieve red shades on fabrics.
- Lighting – Gel filters of yellow and magenta can produce red lighting for theater stages.
These are just some examples of where knowing the two colors that make red comes in handy for practical purposes.
Common Questions
Here are answers to some frequently asked questions about mixing colors to create red:
- Why not mix red and blue? – While combining red and blue makes purple, it does not make a pure vivid red.
- Do green and purple make red? – No, green and purple actually make a brownish, unsaturated red since it contains all 3 primary colors.
- Can you mix primary colors to get red? – No, you cannot mix the 3 primary colors together to make red. Red is a primary color itself.
- Do cyan and yellow make red? – Cyan contains both green and blue, so mixing it with yellow will not produce red.
The key takeaway is that yellow and magenta are the two simplest colors that can be combined to produce a clean, saturated red. No other two color combinations make an ideal true red.
Conclusion
In summary, the two basic colors that combine together to make red are yellow and magenta. This is because yellow contains red wavelengths and magenta is made of red and blue light. Mixing yellow and magenta filters out all but the long red wavelengths to produce the signature red hue.
Understanding primary, secondary and tertiary colors helps explain why combining these two particular colors makes red. The principles of light and color perception also shed light on how and why mixing yellow and magenta makes red.
Knowing that these two colors produce red is useful for artists, designers, printers and anyone who works with color and wants to create shades of red by mixing other hues. So next time you’re wondering how to make the color red, just remember to mix together some yellow and magenta!
