I am away from home visiting family (and my little sister Emma 🐕), so ill be using my iPad for this tutorial, but you can follow on using the PC version if you like. 

Technique Uses

This method is useful for comic writers and animators, as it will allow you to accessorise your characters without wasting too much time on detail. 

Set up

Make a new document. If you're on a tablet, switch it to Simple Mode.

 

Simple Mode is useful if you want to draw without too much of the user tools cluttering the screen.

 

For the sake of this tutorial, I'm going to draw a face with exaggerated cartoony features. (Sketch in grey).

 

On another layer, I sketched out some piercings and hair clips (in pink). Too many accessories can appear cluttered. However, I've chosen to include them to show possible variations. 

I made another layer and drew the Lineart of the character using the pen tool. 

Automatic Outlines

For the next part, we have to change from Simple Mode back to normal studio mode, as it will give us more features. 

Create a new layer and label it as Earrings or Accessories. Then activate the Boarder Effect. Make the boarder colour the same as your outline (black) and adjust the line size so it matches too. 

 

Window --> Layer Effects --> Boarder effects

You should be able to draw the jewellery (silver for me) and it will automatically have an outline.

 

Studs and barbell piercings will look like dots ⚫️ and rings will look like the letter "C".

For the necklace, we can't add the pendant on the same layer without it merging together into one shape. So make a new layer with the same Boarder Effects and you will be able to overlap the pendant over the necklace.

For the hair clips, the process is the same. But instead of using a metal colour, we will choose some variation to make them look like plastic clips. 

If you want to add shadow or light to add dimension, create some new layers and clip them with the Clipping Mask. 

 

I used the Multiply (shadow) and Screen (light) Blending modes for the sake of simplicity. 

Troubleshooting

If you think hour shading looks rough and isn't going inside the outlines, do this instead. 

Instead of applying the Boarder Effect to your drawing layer itself, we will make a folder 📁 (with the drawing layer inside) and apply Boarder Effect to the folder. 

We will still have our shadow and light layers as clipping masks.

Colouring

Feel free to colour in your drawing as you wish. 

 

For me, I made a new layer (called Colour). I closed the gaps using the pen tool and used the Fill Bucket 🪣 Tool to colour the area. Make sure you have the Refer to Other Layers box selected. 

Finished

Here is the finished artwork. 

 

If you are more advanced with drawing and colouring, feel free to combine this technique with your own art processes.