Paint color mixer calculator

Combine colors by percentage using a paint-like RYB subtractive model instead of additive RGB light mixing.

Estimate the result of mixing paint colors

Mixing colored light and mixing paint are different processes. RGB averaging is additive and is suitable for light emitted by screens, but physical paints absorb and scatter light. This calculator therefore mixes in a traditional RYB (red-yellow-blue) pigment space so familiar paint relationships such as blue plus yellow producing green are preserved instead of being treated as emitted RGB light.

Enter two or more colors and the relative percentage of each one. Percentages are treated as proportions, so they do not have to add up to exactly 100; the calculator normalizes them automatically.

How accurate is the paint mixture?

The result is an estimate from screen colors. Exact paint mixing depends on the actual pigment chemistry, spectral reflectance, opacity, binder, concentration, surface and lighting. Two real paints that look identical on a monitor can mix differently. For production paint formulation, measured spectral pigment data is required.

The mixture recipe is stored in the URL so the same set of colors and percentages can be shared.