What two colors make sky blue?

Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses 3 tubes rather than two: 86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue. Titanium White leads the mix. Chromilla's model predicts an 89% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

How do you make sky blue paint lighter without losing the hue?

Lighten in small steps and compare against the target each time. Chromilla's palette struggles with a lighter sky blue (#A5D2F7) in acrylic: Chromilla's model predicts an 81% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Why does sky blue look different when acrylic dries?

Acrylic binder looks milky while wet and clears as it dries, so the dried film reads darker. Chromilla's model applies a 10% value shift for acrylic, so the wet mix #87BBE6 is predicted to dry to about #7DA8CD. Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.

What is the hex code for sky blue?

Chromilla uses #8CB8DC as the target for sky blue. The acrylic recipe is predicted to dry to about #7DA8CD.

Can I mix sky blue without black?

Yes. Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses no black: 86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue.

How to mix

Sky Blue paint in acrylic, oil and watercolor, compared

Real pigment ratios for sky blue (#8CB8DC) in acrylic, oil and watercolor. The recipes below come straight from Chromilla’s mixer, calibrated to real manufacturer paint data.

Quick answer

To mix sky blue (#8CB8DC) in acrylic (oil and watercolor are compared below), use 86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue. Chromilla's model predicts an 89% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out. Chromilla is a web-based paint color mixer that turns any color, from a photo, the camera or a hex code, into exact paint-tube ratios for acrylic, oil and watercolor, using Kubelka-Munk pigment mixing and aiming at the color after it dries.

Sky Blue in acrylic, oil and watercolor, side by side (dry match by Chromilla's color model, not a measured paint-out)
Medium	Tubes and parts	Predicted dry match	Drying
Acrylic	86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue	89%	Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.
Oil	86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue	95%	Dries true to color.
Watercolor	86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue	91%	Dries slightly darker and a touch cooler.

How we calculated this: Kubelka-Munk pigment mixing, then a per-medium dry shift, scored with CIEDE2000. Method and accuracy benchmark. Last checked August 2026.

Terms used here: Dry shift, Value, Kubelka-Munk, Delta E (dE2000), Transparency, Pigment code, Tint.

Target color

Sky Blue

#8CB8DC

Live mixer

Open this color in the mixer

The Chromilla mixer is pre-loaded with #8CB8DC. Change your brand, medium or palette and the recipe updates instantly.

Open in mixer

Recipes by medium

Checked August 2026

Generic pigment ratios, the same ones the Chromilla mixer solves for. Open the mixer to swap in your own brand and tubes.

acrylic

Pigment recipe

89% when dry

Wet mix

#87BBE6

1. Titanium White (PW6)86%
2. Ultramarine Blue (PB29)10%
3. Phthalo Blue (PB15)4%

Dry-down

Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.

oil

Pigment recipe

95% when dry

Wet mix

#87BBE6

1. Titanium White (PW6)86%
2. Ultramarine Blue (PB29)10%
3. Phthalo Blue (PB15)4%

Dry-down

Dries true to color.

watercolour

Pigment recipe

91% when dry

Wet mix

#87BBE6

1. Titanium White (PW6)86%
2. Ultramarine Blue (PB29)10%
3. Phthalo Blue (PB15)4%

Dry-down

Dries slightly darker and a touch cooler.

Common mistakes when mixing sky blue

Sky blue is mostly about restraint: it's a small amount of blue in a lot of white, and adding blue in the proportions you'd use for a saturated color overshoots every time. Add white first, then blue in small increments until the value is right. Cerulean-type pigments tend to give a softer, more atmospheric sky blue than phthalo, which reads as too electric for most skies.

Exact single-medium recipes

Straight-to-the-ratio versions of sky blue in each medium, from the Chromilla mix library.

Why the three mediums differ for sky blue

acrylic carries a 10% value shift on drying in Chromilla's model (dries slightly darker and a touch warmer), so the acrylic mix is predicted to dry to #7DA8CD.
oil dries true to color in Chromilla's model, so the oil mix is predicted to dry to #87BBE6.
watercolor carries a 8% value shift on drying in Chromilla's model (dries slightly darker and a touch cooler), so the watercolor mix is predicted to dry to #7BACD6.
In watercolor the paper is the white, so lighter versions come from adding water rather than white paint.

Acrylic recipe in detail

Sky Blue in acrylic: tube ratios, and ml for a 100 ml batch
Paint	Pigment	Share	100 ml batch
Titanium White	PW6	86%	86 ml
Ultramarine Blue	PB29	10%	10 ml
Phthalo Blue	PB15	4%	4 ml

Variations on Sky Blue (acrylic)

Each variation is its own target (lighter and darker move OKLCH lightness by 0.08; warmer and cooler turn the hue 12 degrees toward red or blue), solved fresh.

Lighter Sky Blue

#A5D2F7

Not a confident recipe: the closest mix is 92% Titanium White, 5% Ultramarine Blue and 3% Phthalo Blue, and chromilla's model predicts an 81% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Darker Sky Blue

#749FC2

86% Titanium White, 8% Phthalo Blue and 6% Alizarin Crimson. Chromilla's model predicts an 86% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Warmer Sky Blue

#95B5DF

Not a confident recipe: the closest mix is 8 parts Titanium White, 3 parts Viridian Green and 2 parts Ultramarine Blue, and chromilla's model predicts an 83% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.

Cooler Sky Blue

#95B5DF

Sky Blue questions

What two colors make sky blue?: Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses 3 tubes rather than two: 86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue. Titanium White leads the mix. Chromilla's model predicts an 89% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.
How do you make sky blue paint lighter without losing the hue?: Lighten in small steps and compare against the target each time. Chromilla's palette struggles with a lighter sky blue (#A5D2F7) in acrylic: Chromilla's model predicts an 81% dry match against the target, scored against its own color model, not a measured paint-out.
Why does sky blue look different when acrylic dries?: Acrylic binder looks milky while wet and clears as it dries, so the dried film reads darker. Chromilla's model applies a 10% value shift for acrylic, so the wet mix #87BBE6 is predicted to dry to about #7DA8CD. Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.
What is the hex code for sky blue?: Chromilla uses #8CB8DC as the target for sky blue. The acrylic recipe is predicted to dry to about #7DA8CD.
Can I mix sky blue without black?: Yes. Chromilla's acrylic recipe uses no black: 86% Titanium White, 10% Ultramarine Blue and 4% Phthalo Blue.

Related colors

More colours to try once you have sky blue sorted.