The primary colors are the three colors you use to mix other colors. In the paint, crayons and colored pencils you use in art class, the primary colors are red, yellow and blue. Nobody can mix them from other paints, but mixed together in different amounts they make most of the other colors you see on a color wheel.
That's the answer most teachers and kids need. There's a second answer for light (red, green and blue) and a third for printing (cyan, magenta and yellow). This page explains all three, why they're different, and how to start mixing with the primaries.
If you're painting, coloring or doing a school project, the three primary colors are:
They're called primary because they come first. You can't make red by mixing yellow and blue, and you can't make blue by mixing red and yellow. Every other color on the classic color wheel comes from these three, plus white and black for lighter and darker versions.
Here's what happens when you mix them two at a time:
Those three new colors are the secondary colors. Mix a primary with the secondary next to it and you get the six tertiary colors. Together that's the 12-color wheel. Our color mixing chart shows the whole wheel in one place.
This surprises a lot of people. If you look up the primary colors online, you might see red, green and blue. If you look at a printer's ink cartridges, you'll see cyan, magenta and yellow. All three answers are right. They describe different ways of making color.
Paint, ink and crayon wax work by absorbing some light and reflecting the rest. Each time you add another color, more light gets absorbed, so the mix gets darker. This is called subtractive mixing. The traditional red, yellow and blue set is what most schools teach.
One honest note: real paints are not perfect. A red paint usually contains a little yellow or blue, and the colors you get depend on the exact paints. That's why the same "red + blue" can give you a bright purple with one pair of paints and a dull, brownish purple with another.
A phone, TV or computer screen makes color by adding light. Red, green and blue are the primary colors of light. Mix red and green light and you get yellow. Mix all three at full strength and you get white light. This is called additive mixing, and the three colors are often shortened to RGB.
Most color printers use cyan (a bright greenish blue), magenta (a hot pinkish red) and yellow ink, usually with black added. These three can mix a wider range of clean colors than the classic red, yellow and blue, which is why printers use them. They're often shortened to CMY, or CMYK when black is included.
| Where | Primary colors | Mixing makes things |
|---|
| Paint, crayons, pencils | Red, yellow, blue | Darker |
| Screens and light | Red, green, blue | Lighter (all three make white) |
| Printing | Cyan, magenta, yellow | Darker |
If a quiz or worksheet asks "what are the primary colors," go with red, yellow and blue unless it's clearly about light or printing.
Kids understand primary colors best when they mix them by hand. A few ideas:
- Three-dot mixing. Put one dot each of red, yellow and blue paint on a plate. Ask the child to predict what each pair will make, then mix and check.
- Primary-only pictures. Give a child only red, yellow and blue crayons and one coloring page. Ask them to find a way to make the sun, the grass and the sky using only those three.
- Color wheel game. Draw a circle split into six sections. Color the primaries first, then fill in the secondaries between them.
- Mixing sentences. "Red and yellow make orange" is easy to chant. Say it a few times and kids tend to remember it.
For younger children, it helps to start with just two primaries at a time so they see one clear change. The full wheel can wait until they're comfortable.
- Start with small amounts. Dark colors overpower light ones quickly. Add the stronger color a little at a time.
- Use equal parts for a clean secondary. Equal red and yellow gives a medium orange. More yellow gives a lighter, golden orange.
- Mix all three for brown. Equal parts of all three primaries usually makes a muddy brown. See what colors make brown.
- Use white to lighten. A primary plus white makes a lighter tint. Red plus white makes pink.
- Layer dry media. With crayons and colored pencils you can't stir colors together, but you can layer them. Yellow under blue looks green. Our guide on how to color with colored pencils shows how.
Red and yellow are warm colors. Blue is cool. That's why a picture made mostly with red and yellow feels bright and energetic, and one with lots of blue feels calm. If you want to use this on purpose, read warm and cool colors.
Is black or white a primary color? No. In paint, black and white are used to make colors darker or lighter, but they are not part of the primary set.
Is green a primary color? Not in paint, where green is made from yellow and blue. In light, green is a primary.
Why did I learn red, yellow and blue if printers use cyan, magenta and yellow? The red, yellow and blue wheel is a simple teaching tool that has been used in schools for a long time. It's good for learning and works fine for most painting and coloring. The printing set covers a wider range of clean colors, but it's harder to find in a school paint set.
How many colors can you make from the primaries? Far more than you can count. Once you vary the amounts, add white or black, and layer, there's no hard limit.
Practice with coloring pages
A good way to learn the primary colors is to limit yourself to them. Pick a simple page from our coloring pages, such as a flower or an animal. Color it using only red, yellow and blue, and mix the other colors you need on the paper by layering. You'll learn more about how colors behave in one page than you would from reading about it.
