What Color does Blue and Red make | Basic Color Science Knowledge

If you’re talking about pigments, which are different materials that can be mixed, combining red and blue results in purple. Suppose the discussion is focused on the visible light spectrum. In that case, however, the color magenta is created by blending red and blue.

Blue and red are the two primary colors in the light spectrum. This means that red and blue are visual representations of electromagnetic energy that cannot be created by combining different colors. This is why RGB (red, green, and blue) values are used in digital painting software.

Pigments, unlike light, do not get their colors by emitting specific electromagnetic wavelengths. On the other hand, stains get their color by absorbing particular wavelengths of the spectrum. Because of this, the calculation for determining what colors are produced when mixing pigments is different. Yellow, magenta, and cyan are the three primary pigment colors. Greenlight is absorbed by magenta, blue light by yellow, and red light by cyan.

How to Mix Different Shades of Purple

When you combine red and blue, you get an actual purple color, but that’s not always the color you want. You may want to make different shades of purple lighter or darker in some cases.

Mixing Lighter Purple

The most straightforward way to lighten a color is to add white. Adding more red to the purple can also make it appear warmer and softer.

Mixing Darker Purple

Instead, you can add more blue to make darker purple shades. You can also add a smidgeon of black, but not too much. Too much black in the mix can overpower the color, which is difficult to fix.

Purple vs. Violet vs. Indigo

Although purple and violet are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not the same color. On the color wheel, violet is frequently substituted for purple. Violet is in the electromagnetic spectrum, while purple isn’t. Violet is the light wavelength at the very bottom of the range.

In most cases, violet is blue than red, while purple is closer to a perfect balance. In other words, they’re different shades or tints of the same color. Indigo is a purple that leans more toward blue than red. Although purple isn’t included in “ROYGBIV, ” violet and indigo are rainbow colors. Indigo is a deeper shade of blue with a violet undertone.

Red and Blue Make What Color With Lights?

When red and blue lights are combined, the outcome is no longer purple. In this case, red and blue combine to become magenta. Although blue and red are still primary colors for illumination, the color mixing that human eyes experience differs significantly from paint mixes.

How Do Our Eyes Perceive Colors in Light?

When we look at color, we look at how an item reflects or emits light to generate a particular hue. Each hue corresponds to a wavelength that our eyes can detect. Our eyes’ cones and rods, which are cells, enable us to see distinct colors. Rods collect and transmit visible light to our brains. Cones then contain light at specific wavelengths that match the desired hue.

Wavelengths on the low end of the light spectrum have a reddish hue, while those on the high end have a blue tint. Green is viewed as anything in the center. As a result, the fundamental hues of light are red, blue, and green. Any additional light shades are made up of a combination of these.

Purple Meaning

It’s a good idea to grasp the significance of purple before utilizing it in your painting, regardless of the sort of purple you use. Purple is associated with creativity, mystery, monarchy, and spirituality. Its purpose is to educate, inspire, and encourage people who view it. Purple in lighter shades is generally associated with romantic and nostalgic thoughts. On the other hand, darker purples are associated with melancholy and dissatisfaction.

Consider how these colors and tints of purple will affect individuals viewing your artwork when you blend red and blue with paint. Purple is a lovely hue, but it also carries a lot of symbolism.

Can We Mix Colors to Create Red and Blue?

Because red and blue are primary hues, we cannot mix them to perfect red or blue. However, if you don’t have red or blue paint, you can still manufacture it from scratch if you can read a color wheel. To make either of these colors from scratch, you’ll need to utilize a subtractive formula.

You can make blue by combining cyan and magenta. Magenta is purple-red while cyan is green-blue. While it may appear to be an unusual mix, it will result in a pure blue. It’s similar to how a printer’s cyan, yellow, and magenta ink can create any other hue.

As a result, you’ll need to combine magenta and yellow similarly for red. Of course, buying red and blue paint is more accessible, but combining them is an aesthetic decision that helps you learn more about color theory.

The Light Spectrum: An Overview

The frequency of wavelengths determines the frequency of electromagnetic radiation, and light visible to the naked eye is in the center of that range. Visible light has a greater wavelength frequency than ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma-ray, while infrared, microwave, and radio are lower.

The fact that temperature and light color are strongly related is an intriguing feature of this spectrum. When objects heat up, the energy emitted has shorter wavelengths, which causes it to seem different to the naked eye.

It’s why a flame may change color from red to blue as it becomes hotter.

Astronomers may learn more about space by understanding colors, wavelengths, and temperatures in this way. The fantastic spectrum of light, on the other hand, is merely the typical way we view the world for most individuals.

Conclusion

Because pigments and lighting absorb color differently, there is a tiny variance in color. When blending red and blue, you may adjust the percentages of each hue to achieve a specific purple color. To get the proper tone, you might need to add a neutral color. When you run out of colors, this is a fantastic method to manufacture purple paint.