Additive Color
Television is the most familiar application of additive color mixing. A close look at the screen image shows clusters of red, green and blue dots or stripes, which are phosphors.

If we are working on a computer, the colors we see on the screen are also created with light using the additive color method. Additive color mixing begins with black and ends with white, meaning that as more color is added, the result is lighter and tends to white.


Subtractive Color
When we mix colors using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive color method. Subtractive color mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds color, the result gets darker and tends to black.

The CMYK color system is the color system used for printing and is an example of the subtractive color method. The colors used in the printing process during reproduction are cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.