interesting - thanks!

Cool. I generally start with a transparent layer and paint color on. A couple of things that can help is selecting the image layer, using the "select contiguous color" or "magic scissors" tool to select

a large section to be painted, then switching to the paint layer and using "bucket fill"

Thanks Mike, I will look into that method

You're welcome. Make sure you select "fill whole selection" on the bucket tool options. I also never used "overlay" mode - I've only used "color" mode for the color layers. "Color" mode replaces the hue and

saturation of the image, but uses the value of the black and white original. "Overlay" merges them in a more subtle way. I think either mode works well.