If mixing primary colors make white, why doesn't mixing all the colors create white?

Answer 1

All these answers are pretty well correct but another thing about paint vs light is that paint is a chemical compound that is either opaque , transparent or somewhere in between depending on the pigment. And paint, unlike light can never render a pure color such as a pure red, blue or yellow. All paint has what they call "Color Bias" in that you can never mix a pure color. All reds, blues, yellows are shifted toward one side of the color spectrum or the other. That's why when mixing paint you have to have two of each primary; one toward the cool side (which in the case of yellow is a lemony or primrose yellow) and one towards the warm side( which in the case of yellow is a golden or school bus yellow). If you remember to mix the warms with the warms and the cools with the cools you will get a more intense and vibrant color than if mixing warm with cool and vice versa. This is not to say that cross mixing is not to be done, many subtle shades of color can be made this way and after awhile a true mastery of the palette can be attained using this method. A fine book on this subject is called "Blue and Yellow don't make Green" by Michael Wilcox, which explains this theory in detail. I have found it to be an excellent reference work for color theory.
hope this helps

Answer 2

There's two types of primary colors, additive and subtractive colors. The primary colors you learn about in grade school are subtractive, and are technically magenta, cyan, and yellow that when mixed together form black or the absence of color. However white is formed by the mixing of the additive primary colors red, green, and blue. The formation of white is best demonstrated using light and is a topic of most basic physics classes.

Answer 3

Mixing primary colors does not make white when you are talking about paint. Mixing primary hues creates a brownish/greyish color depending on the ratio. Mixing colors of light is very different but since this is about painting, you have stated something that isn't correct.

Answer 4

Okay. As stated by the other folks- when you mix red, blue and yellow together, when working with paint, you will either get brown or Gray.
Here's a little color theory that will go a long way...
Red, blue and yellow are the primaries. Green (yellow and blue), Orange (yellow and red) and violet (red and blue are the secondaries.
When you are working with colors in painting, you use complimentary colors to control the intensity of a color.
(Complimentary pairs are - red & green, blue & orange and yellow & violet.) They are exact opposites of each other on the color wheel and they kind of cancel each other out.
Like this- say you are painitng a red jacket, but the red right out of the tube is too bright. So you add a little green (blue and yellow!!!) and the color becomes less bright, more natural. If you keep adding green to the red it will eventually turn brown. If you keep adding green you will get gray- red and green cancel each other out and make grey.
It doesn't relate to light, as you can see. But knowing this basic theory can help you control the brightness/dullness of your palette.

Answer 5

There's a difference between mixing colors of light and mixing colors of pigment (e.g. paint). The primary colors of light are red, green, and blue. When you mix them, you get white. The primary pigment colors are red, yellow and blue and when you mix them you get gray.

Here's a Wikipedia article on the different types of primary colors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_color

Answer 6

.... Mixing primary colors with paint makes black... Mixing them with light makes white (though, the primary colors for light are also different as well). White in paint is the absence of color, while in light, it is the totally of color...

Note: for those of you that have mixed them all in paint and gotten "brown" there not "true primary" colors then. RYB is actually Magenta, yellow, and cyan to mix properly.

Answer 7

Since all colors are made from primaries, mixing all colors does create white. However, you need to be clear that you're talking about light-based colors (primaries of red, blue, and green, combinations include red and green for yellow). Pigment-based colors (primaries of red, blue, and yellow, combinations include blue and yellow for green) combine for black.

Answer 8

Don't confuse two things: One is mixing colors of light, and one is mixing paint or other materials. Mixing all the colors of light together produces white.

Answer 9

Try mixing the primary colors, you will have brown.

Answer 10

Comparing the combination of LIGHT to PAINT is a bit silly dont you think? Mixing all the primary colours in paint will always make a browny greeny colour.