Sprite Stitch Board!

I actually cannot work with just a black and white pattern. I HAVE to go over the entire pattern and outline all the different colours. I've started to do this with a somewhat complex 36 colour pattern (135x180) and good heavens, I haven't done more than 1/5 of it so far and I want to start stitching already

I wish there were more sections of about 500 squares of the same colour. It'd be so much faster.

Are you able to print the pattern in colour? If you have access to the pattern file itself instead of just a pdf, should be easy enough to do. For complex patterns having it in colour definitely helps a lot.

You could use Pattern Keeper app (for Android devices) and your stitching experience will reach another level. Take a look on youtube videos about it.