Do you always start with greyscale before going to color?
no, i used to but i could never get the satisfying result when colouring greyscale. I find working in greyscale very relaxing so i often choose it for stuff I am doing for myself, but if the piece is to be in colour i start with base colour right away.
some sketch vs final for colour pieces below, since I have them too:
I do a lot of colour grading as i go, as seen especially on the second piece, but the basic tones are there from the start.



















