Craft · 6 pages · 12 min
Why CMYK is not the same as RGB
Process inks subtract light from paper, while a screen adds red, green, and blue light.
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From the opening
CMYK builds color with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black inks that subtract wavelengths from light reflected by paper. RGB builds color by adding red, green, and blue light on a screen, so more light moves the mixture toward white. The opening covers inks subtract light from paper, screens add red, green, and blue, and black ink is a separate pass.
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Inside
- Inks subtract light from paper
- Screens add red, green, and blue
- Black ink is a separate pass
- The same numbers, two gamuts
- Where the idea stops applying
- A distinction worth keeping
Sources
- Subtractive CMYK process color
- Additive RGB color on displays