Additive and subtractive refer to two different means of mixing colors. Additive color mixing usually occurs with the action of several color sensations simultaneously. It comes in wherever the values of various colors superimpose and also as it gets an optical impression interfering with one another.
On the contrary, subtractive or multiplicative color mixing does not have to do with the mixing of color irritants, whereas you create color by applying subtractive measures. The optical mixing of the three light zones (red, green, and blue) leads to the occurrence of the additive color synthesis. The mixing of the colors of material (cyan, magenta, and yellow) leads to the occurrence of subtractive synthesis.
The combinations of color in additive synthesis go thus: yellow is obtained from the combinations of green and red; magenta is blue plus red, cyan from blue and green. On the other hand, the subtractive mixing goes thus: red = yellow + magenta, green = yellow + cyan, and blue = magenta + cyan.