Mixing of colours consists of two main components:

• Additive mixing
• Subtractive mixing

There are two main types of color mixing: additive color mixing and subtractive color mixing.

Additive color mixing is creating a new color by a process that adds one set of wavelengths to another set of wavelengths.

Additive color mixing is what happens when lights of different wavelengths are mixed. When we add all of the different wavelengths of sunlight, we see white light rather than many individual colors. It is called additive because all of the wavelengths still reach our eyes. It is the combination of different wavelengths that creates the diversity of colors.

Subtractive color mixing is creating a new color by the removal of wavelengths from a light with a broad spectrum of wavelengths.

Subtractive color mixing occurs when we mix paints, dyes, or pigments. When we mix paints, both paints still absorb all of the wavelengths they did previously, so what we are left with is only the wavelengths that both paints reflect. It is called subtractive mixing because when the paints mix, wavelengths are deleted from what we see because each paint will absorb some wavelengths that the other paint reflects, thus leaving us with a lesser number of wavelengths remaining afterward.

So the easy way to remember the difference between additive and subtractive color mixing is that additive color mixing is what happens when we mix lights of different colors whereas subtractive color mixing occurs when we mix paints or other colored material.