Oil Paint - Shifting Overall Values

[Daniel Andrews]

To start, I'm using Oil paint.
Im still in the stages of planning out my image before I place it on to the canvas. So far I know that in a section of the Background there will be some monochromatic figures/head shots. Before I dive in I questioned, What if the grey scale figures are to dark, and how do I go about shifting that? I have some vague ideas on how some kind of wash would help with this. Yet something tells me that its a little more complicated than just adding washes of Black or White. I'd just like to be more certain before I move ahead.
How can I "shift the Values up or down" with oil paints?
An answer with examples using Color, or Monochromatic would be greatly appreciated if it makes a distinct difference.
Thank you.

[dpaint]

If it is neutral; white or black is fine for shifting up or down the scale. Is the end result for black and white print?

Color is another matter and requires much study. Color/value shifts depend on angle of light and quality of light and distance from foreground. I suggest working from life to get an idea of what your are dealing with. Things tend to move from yellow green toward blue violet as they recede. (Things that are yellow get redder things that are redder get more violet.)It is not a straight line of just lightening or darkening the color because you have to consider the effect of the pigment when you add it to any other color. Because white and black affect more than just the value of other colors they are not always agood choice for the shifts. While there are many theories about color, Reilly/ Munsell, is in my opinion the best for painters/ illustrators.
Frank Reilly taught for over thirty years and produced the best illustrators in the country over and over again, so his theories are backed up by results not just words. He combines the scientific aspects of munsell theory with his teachers, Frank Dumond's academic theory which came out Chevreul's color theory.

[CKLamb]

dpaint pretty much covers it, especially if you keep it monochromatic. another thing is: try to keep the background figures/objects relatively simple until you can make a more accurate judgement on the value you need for that area. basically, don't start painting fingers or eyelashes until the overall value is where you want it.

[DSillustration]

Plan A: Do a value study so your background is NOT too dark.
Plan B: If your background IS too dark, re-paint it.

Simple as that.
Doing a white 'wash' over a dry layer to lighten it up is not going to look good.
Instead mix more light tones into it while it's still wet.

[CKLamb]

yeah..you don't want to scumble something drastic like white on black, move it up a few notches at a time, or like dan says, just repaint it.

[Daniel Andrews]

Thanks dpaint, CKLamb & Dan
I really appreciate the insight. I've read up a fair bit on it since posting. I also did a PS mock up of the Value and Color scheme after looking at an old tutorial Elwell posted (I have him to thank as well). I'm confident about moving ahead at this point.
I'm just applying my coats of Gesso :P

[CKLamb]

Mind sharing what you've got going?

[Daniel Andrews]

I don't mind sharing.
I did a Few thumbnails on the other page of my sketch book as well but this page is basically what its all made from. My question I made the thread over was about the rough characters on the side of the image. I did want them to show up to bold. So I was curious on how to correct it if I screw up :)
The next Image is collage of everything together. Cutting and pasting making it all fit. I still have to solve the foot between the guys head and hand...and make her look more female. :D
I bought a mac not to long ago so Ive had a chance to play around lots with "Photobooth" shooting myself as ref which is something I definitely did for the bottom figure. I stole a hand from one shot, and put it on another, angled the head more and erased the torso and skewed it myself with more drawing.
Im doing some last detail on the color mock up digitally right now so This is all I have right now.
Im no authority on how this is done, but its feeling good to me at this point.