As an art instructor, I get most proud and excited when a student turns in a very smart and effective value study.

Example of the power of values: this painting by the great Marcin Jakubowski.

Check out the super vibrant color version!

Now the BnW version. WOW! Super grouped midtone values. That shouldn't work, but he used color contrast instead to make a night scene SEEM bright. SORCERY.

I'll cap this thought off with an idea I believe strongly in:

Learning to Draw and paint well is a relatively straight forward path.

Learning to be a great picture maker is far harder and takes much more study and hopefully the benefit of solid instruction.