Adding darks with reckless abandonment

I've been intrigued with tonal values for some time now. Before understanding the light and dark contrasts in a drawing, my drawings tended to look rather flat and I couldn't tell what was wrong with them. Later, I found that adding mid-tones and darks in the right places, an image stands out more clearly. Note that although I did take art elective classes, I didn't major in art. And I learned a lot from books and trial and error.

When I came across comic books by artists such as Mike Mignola and Sean Phillips, I bought and studied them. Their shadows were more intense and black. That was fresh to me. I liked how their use of darks made their images more contrasty or crisp (and simplier?). The blacks would sometimes bleed into each other and also form shapes, obscuring details but somehow made the images even more appealing. And that also gave a clearer sense of where the light was coming from and where the shadows were. Overall, I thought that looked very stylish. Yes, it's a stylistic choice that often works for darker story themes, and not all stories. For example, it's great for crime and monster stories.

Hellboy: Conqueror Worm, Mike Mignola

Incognito, Ed brukaker and Sean Phillips

Trying it for myself I found that, often, I had to make the decision of a mid-tone would be interpreted as black or mid-tone or white. It's almost a game. I don't use in all my drawings. Only when I think it is appropriate. I often find that students starting out in drawing often don't put enough of the darks into their drawings. I do find that it takes some reckless abandonment! Here are some drawings where I intensified the darks and I liked the feel of it.

One way I practice it is to draw from observation and only capture the darks with a brush. I filmed one of my practices here. It is rather long and I probably should have shortened the video. Feel free to speed it up (a lot) if you think it's too long. Or perhaps you'd like to follow and practice along with me, which is what I originally intended, and you can hear me rambling along as I draw haha. Here is the VIDEO.  Quicker version HERE.