Subtractive Color - CMYK Printing Process

CMYK Printing Process

In most color printing, the primary ink colors used are cyan, magenta, and yellow. Cyan is the complement of red, meaning that cyan acts like a filter that absorbs red. The amount of cyan applied to a paper will control how much red will show. Magenta is the complement of green, and yellow the complement of blue. Combinations of different amounts of the three inks can produce a wide range of colors; this is how artwork reproductions are mass-produced, although an under-toning of black ink is usually used as well. This mixture is called CMYK.

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