Working in greyscale and then colouring - What is this method? Is it widely used?

[Pennyj]

I am trying to read as much as I can about digital painting, and found something that really helped me start painting with confidence. The idea of working in greyscale and then adding colour layers.

Is this an accepted method of working? I cannot find any tutorials to help me colourise the work in Painter 11, but I definitely cannot translate what I have learned in physical painting to digital without this method.

In physical painting we worked on value, then squeezed paint from a ready mixed tube. Our hands were firmly held where colour was concerned. Now with digi I'm deluged with massive amounts of materials on colour theory, and frankly It'll take me months to digest. It would be great to get on with some studies in greyscale and then come back to colour them later!

If anyone has any info, names, tutorials I would really appreciate it!

[vineris]

Sure, lots of people use this method. In Photoshop you would do it using Overlay and Color layers. It looks like Painter has Composite Methods which seem to be similar to the Photoshop blend modes. I don't really use Painter but at least this should give you a starting point to do some searches from.

[DSillustration]

Check out Jason Chan's 'Character Design' download.
I believe he is using this method in them.
The first in the series should explain it well enough.

[Dizon]

Look for Mr. Delicious' (Dave Rapoza) and Daarken's Youtube videos as well. Dave, in particular, shows you a step-by-step of how he colors a greyscale painting. He basically uses Color and Overlay.

I'm more comfortable laying in the color right away. I just can't seem to get the results I want with that method.