Which of the following describes color value?

• A. Hue
• B. Intensity
• C. Value
• D. Saturation

Answer: (C)

Value describes how light or dark a color appears, giving the tonal sense of the color. It’s the lightness or darkness you notice when you shade with black or tint with white, which helps create depth and form in artwork. This is different from hue, which is the color family (red, blue, green, etc.), and from saturation (or intensity), which describes how pure or vivid the color looks. For example, red can be light and pale (high value) or deep and dark (low value), while its hue stays red and its saturation can vary from vivid to dull. So, the term that captures the lightness-darkness aspect of color is value.