@Anlly Ooh, traditional, I like it.
Mm, what I learned from a workshop the past weekend, it's best to start with the darkest darks and go up in value/tone from there! Block in shapes of the subject matter and fill it in with the closest value you see/think. As far as going for realistic or not, it's up to you! So far it has an interesting feel to it, so I don't think it's necessary to push for a realistic approach. But, it's up to you if you want to push for that, though!