Which color model is subtractive and commonly used in printing?

• A. HSL
• B. CMY
• C. RGB
• D. CMYK

Answer: (D)

Colors produced on printing paper come from pigments that absorb parts of the spectrum, leaving others to be reflected. This is subtractive color mixing: starting with white paper, you add cyan, magenta, and yellow inks to subtract light and create the range of colors. However, using only those three inks can’t produce a perfectly deep black, and mixing to simulate blacks wastes ink. Introducing a separate black ink gives true dark tones more efficiently and broadens the printable color range. That four-ink system—cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (often labeled as “K” for key)—is why this model is the one commonly used in printing: CMYK.

For context, RGB is an additive model used for screens, where colors come from light added together, not pigments. HSL is a color-representation space useful for digital design, not a printing color system. And CMY exists as a subtractive concept, but printers standardly use CMYK to include a dedicated black ink for depth and cost efficiency.