Graphic Design EOPA Practice Test

Subtractive color mixing is the idea here. In a subtractive system, pigments sit on a white surface, and each pigment absorbs (subtracts) certain wavelengths of light. White is the starting color because the surface reflects all wavelengths. When you add pigments, you subtract more and more light, moving toward darker tones. If you remove all color pigments, nothing is left to absorb light, so the surface remains white. That’s why this system is described as becoming white when all colors are removed. By contrast, additive color is about light itself—when you combine all colors of light, you get white, not when you remove them. The RGB model is the standard additive system used on screens. Analog color isn’t a formal mixing system in the same sense. So the described behavior fits subtractive color best.