What Colors Can You Make by Mixing Blue & Yellow?

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Professional painter Jeanine Hattas Wilson explains all the shades you can make with yellow and blue paint

Co-authored by Jeanine Hattas Wilson and Hunter Rising

Last Updated: January 21, 2026 Fact Checked

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Mixing Yellow & Blue

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Making Different Shades

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Color Theory

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When you’re learning how to paint, mixing different colors can give you a variety of new shades and values to work with. Blue and yellow are basic paints you’ll find on any palette, and the different colors you can make with them give you a wide range to work with. Keep reading to learn the result of this color combo and how to use color theory to mix them, with the help of professional painter Jeanine Hattas Wilson and professional artist Kelly Medford!

Colors Made by Mixing Blue & Yellow

An illustration showing blue and yellow paint mixed into different shades of green

Professional painter Jeanine Hattas Wilson explains that blue and yellow mixed together make green. Adding more blue makes darker shades like teal and midnight green, and using more yellow creates lighter shades of lime green. Mixing in black or white makes duller green tones.

Section 1 of 3:

What color do yellow and blue make?

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Hattas Wilson says “blue and yellow put together” makes green, but the exact hue depends on the shades of paint you use.^{[1]
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Jeanine Hattas Wilson
Professional Painter

Expert Interview}

Meet the wikiHow Experts

Jeanine Hattas Wilson is a professional painter who has 20 years of experience designing and painting murals.

Kelly Medford is a professional artist based in Rome who has studied classical painting and drawing.

Section 2 of 3:

Creating Different Shades from Blue and Yellow

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Adjust the ratio of blue and yellow for a variety of shades. Medford says, “Experiment with your colors and their ratios” to really understand how many colors you mix. She explains that if you want to mix a light green, “start with yellow [and] then slowly add blue until you get the right value and hue.”^{[2]
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Kelly Medford
Professional Artist

Expert Interview} Here are some different shades you can create with different ratios:
- 10% blue + 90% yellow = Lime green
- 30% blue + 70% yellow = Pea green
- 70% blue + 30% yellow = Green teal
- 90% blue + 10% yellow = Midnight green
Using equal parts of yellow and a dark navy blue makes a cool green shade that has bluish undertones. Adding a bit of black pushes the color to pthalo green, and adding a hint of white changes it to ocean green.^{[3]
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Hattas Wilson explains that mixing in white or black makes colors appear duller and less vibrant.^{[4]
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Jeanine Hattas Wilson
Professional Painter

Expert Interview} Mixing in equal parts of blue, yellow, and white creates muted light green tones, while mixing the colors with black makes darker shades of hunter green.^{[5]
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Try other shades of blue and yellow to mix even more colors. Medford notes that she likes to use ”a warm and cool [shade] for each primary color” because you can mix an even larger variety of colors.^{[6]
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Kelly Medford
Professional Artist

Expert Interview} Try out these different combos of blues and yellows to get new shades of green:
- Turquoise + cadmium yellow = emerald green
- Turquoise + lemon yellow = teal
- Ultramarine blue + cadmium yellow = olive green
- Ultramarine blue + cadmium yellow = forest green
- Pthalo blue + yellow = neon green
- Viridian blue + lemon yellow + white = mint green
- Shale blue + lemon yellow = sage green
- Sky blue + lemon yellow = Persian green

Section 3 of 3:

Color Theory Explained

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Color theory uses primary and secondary colors to make a variety of shades. The 3 primary colors are red, yellow, and blue, and they can’t be made by mixing paints. However, you can mix primary colors together to get the secondary colors green (blue + yellow), orange (yellow + red), and purple (red + blue).^{[7]
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- Mixing a secondary with a primary color creates an in-between tertiary color that fills in the gaps of a color wheel.
- Colors that are across from each other on the color wheel are called “complementary colors” because they have strong contrast that makes each other stand out.