The Difference Between Additive
And Subtractive Color Systems By Neil Blevins Created On: Oct 15th 2025 Software: Any
As children, our first encounter with art is likely with a traditional
medium like paint or crayons. Later we explore digital art on the
computer or a tablet. But what may not be immediately evident is how
the color systems used in these two mediums are in fact very different.
This short article goes into some basics on the more common color
systems, and the difference between additive and subtractive color.
Subtractive Color (RYB)
Paint and other similar traditional mediums that use pigments or inks
or dyes use what is referred to as a Subtractive color system.
A common Subtractive color system is RYB, which has 3 primary colors:
Red (R)
Yellow (Y)
Blue (B)
All other colors can be created using a mixture of these 3 primaries.
For example:
Orange = Mixing Red and Yellow
Purple = Mixing Red and Blue
Green = Mixing Blue and Yellow
If you mix all 3 primary colors, you get black. This is why this system
is referred to as subtractive, combining the primaries lead to black (a
lack of color).
Subtractive Color (CMYK)
When doing digital printing, frequently a variation of RYB is used
called CMYK. CMYK is another Subtractive color format (since we're
dealing with inks), and has the following components:
Cyan (C)
Magenta (M)
Yellow (Y)
Black (K)
This is similar to RYB, but adds an extra ink, Black, so anything
that's black can use a single black ink
instead of 3 times the ink by mixing the other three.
Additive Color (RGB)
Digital mediums that use screens, as well as traditional mediums such
as film, use light to produce their colors, and this is referred to as
an Additive color system.
A common Additive
color system is RGB, which has 3 primary colors:
Red (R)
Green (G)
Blue (B)
All other colors can be created using a mixture of these 3 primaries.
For example:
Yellow = Mixing Red and Green
Purple = Mixing Red and Blue
Cyan = Mixing Blue and Green
If you mix all 3 primary colors, you get white. This is why this system
is referred to as additive, combining the primaries lead to white, and
black is the absence of light.
Additive Color (HSV)
Another method to adjust your additive colors is called HSV. Rather
than having 3 primary colors being mixed, it takes the RGB color model
and breaks up the colors into 3 different components.
Hue (H) the color, like red, orange, blue, etc
Saturation (S) the purity of the color
Value (V) The brightness of the color
So first you select the Hue, or base color. You then affect the
saturation, where low saturation is more grey, and high saturation is a
more pure color, and then finally you change the value, which is the
brightness, so low V is darker, and a higher V is brighter.
This is sometimes represented with the color picker below, a slider to
let you choose the H, then a square to let you adjust the S and V by
moving up or down, left or right.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of color systems out there, including many that can
achieve colors that others cannot. But these are 4 of the more common
ones you're likely to encounter, so hopefully this demystifies some of
the color systems out there, and the difference between additive and
subtractive.
