A separate flat value and/or color is used for as many of the following as the artist chooses: the highlight, the half-tone, the core shadow, the cast shadow, and the reflected light. The artist might choose to break these values down into even subtler values. The edge that is created at the border between each of the flat values can be simplified into flowing curves or angled lines, or the edges can be highly complex.

Values as flat shapes can also be used in purely abstract works that create the illusion of a three-dimensional abstraction.

Featured: The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai.