I'm going to take the advice of giving this pose a chance. It's somewhat rare but I was told to look for the pose in the model. This is what I want to aim to practice in this pose besides values.
At this point I was reminded to do a small value study first. This can help me plan ahead what values I want to put and where. It's also a good and safe way to try things out.
Got the comment to push down the shadow values. This way I can have more contrast in my light shapes' halftones.