There’s technically another unspoken “color” in the CMYK profile: the white from the paper stock that you print on. In CMYK, the key color is always black, but with other printing methods (such as two-tone printing), the key tone could be something different. The reason that black is referred to as “key” is because it is the color used in the key plate, which supplies the contrast and detail for the final image. The name CMYK comes from the four colors applied during the printing process: The CMYK color model is often referred to as four-color process due to the fact that it utilizes four different colored inks to create an array of different hues. This means that an RGB color on one screen might look slightly different on another. Keep in mind that no two monitors are calibrated in exactly the same way. This is different from our other two color models, where the absence of printed color usually represents white. Note that the absence of RGB color results in black. The use of all three colors together at higher intensities results in white and lighter tones, while black is produced with less light against the darkened screen. RGB has no actual canvas to be placed upon–it is projected against a screen using light.

Each color in the RGB color model is created with some combination of red, green and blue, represented here as an R-G-B value, with each variable numbered between 0 and 255.

Pantone color converter to cmyk