Build full, complex jewelry pieces with correct construction logic

Every fancy cut uses the same seven-step rendering process from 2.5 — outline, facet map, per-facet fill, tonal assignment, spectral color, sparse highlights, refined linework. Only the facet map geometry changes:

• Emerald cut: rectangular outline, long parallel "step" facets receding toward the culet like stacked picture frames. Use QuickShape rectangles at decreasing size, evenly spaced — no radial symmetry needed since it's linear, not radial. Tonal assignment reads as broad bands of value rather than small sparkle points.
• Princess cut: square outline, X-pattern facets radiating from the corners to the center. Draw with Quadrant Symmetry (four-way mirror) so all four corner-triangles match perfectly.
• Oval / round-brilliant-in-an-oval: stretch your existing round brilliant facet map from 2.5 using Transform → Distort/Warp along one axis only, then manually true up the facet lines that get distorted unevenly near the pointed ends.
• Pear (teardrop): like an oval but with one pointed end — draw with Vertical Symmetry only (not radial), since a pear cut has just one axis of mirror symmetry, not full radial repetition.
• Marquise: a pear cut mirrored on both ends — two points, football-shaped. Vertical symmetry for the left/right halves, then manually mirror top-to-bottom by duplicating and flipping the layer since Procreate's guide doesn't combine two axes into a lens shape automatically.
• Cabochon: no facets at all — a smooth polished dome, rendered exactly like the pearl technique from 2.7 (soft gradient + one crisp specular highlight) rather than the faceted technique, since cabochons are cut smooth rather than faceted.

A setting is metal "holding" a stone — and drawing it convincingly means thinking about grip logic, not just decoration.

• Prong setting: 4 or 6 small metal claws gripping the stone at the girdle, angled slightly inward and usually with a small rounded tip. Draw the stone first, then the prongs as small teardrop shapes overlapping the stone's edge at evenly-spaced points (Radial Symmetry, segments = prong count) — the overlap is what sells "gripping" rather than "floating behind."
• Bezel setting: a continuous thin metal rim wrapping the entire stone's girdle. Draw as a slightly-larger duplicate of the stone's outline silhouette, offset outward a few pixels, rendered in metal — the stone sits recessed inside it.
• Pavé setting: a surface covered in small stones set close together with tiny visible metal beads between them. Use your pavé texture brush from 2.8 to lay down a scatter of small round stone shapes, then add tiny metal bead dots at the gaps between stones using a fine hard brush in your metal palette.
• Channel setting: a row of stones set between two parallel metal walls with no visible prongs — draw two parallel metal rails, then place stones flush between them so the metal reads as gripping from the sides rather than on top.
• Halo setting: a ring of small pavé stones surrounding a larger center stone. Combine the center stone (2.5/2.6 technique) with a pavé ring (this lesson's pavé technique) drawn on a Radial Symmetry guide around it.

Chains are inherently repetitive — exactly the kind of task Procreate's duplicate/transform workflow handles far faster than redrawing each link.

1. Draw and fully shade one link unit (cable chain: a simple oval ring; box chain: a small rounded square; figaro: alternating one long oval + several short ovals) as its own layer group.
2. Select the group, tap Transform, and use the duplicate button that appears in the Transform toolbar (or three-finger-swipe-down → Copy, then Paste) to clone it.
3. Use Transform → Move to position the duplicate slightly offset and interlocking with the original — for a cable chain, alternate each link's rotation 90° so they read as physically threaded through each other.
4. Once you have 2–3 correctly interlocked links, select all of them as one group and repeat the duplicate-and-offset step to extend the chain quickly, adjusting only the end links to curve the chain naturally rather than staying perfectly straight.
5. Findings (clasps, jump rings, earring posts/hooks) are small enough to keep as a personal reference layer group you copy-paste into new files — a lobster clasp, a spring ring clasp, a standard jump ring, a fishhook earwire, and a post-and-butterfly back cover the vast majority of pieces you'll design.

A jeweler or workshop can't manufacture from one pretty hero-angle render — they need to see the piece the way a technical drawing shows it: top, side/profile, and often a 3/4 perspective for client presentation.

• Top view: the piece as seen straight down — this is usually the "main" angle you've already been rendering in Levels 1–2 for rings and pendants.
• Side/profile view: critical for showing band thickness, prong height, and how a stone sits proud of or flush with the band — often the view that reveals whether a design is actually wearable/structurally sound. Draw it as a fresh, separate render rather than trying to "rotate" the top view — the silhouette is genuinely different.
• 3/4 perspective: the flattering "hero" angle for presentation boards and portfolios — combines enough of the top view's stone brilliance with enough of the side view's dimensional read to feel like a photograph rather than a diagram.

Keep all views on one canvas, clearly labeled (a small text layer under each, using the Text tool inside Actions → Add Text), consistently scaled against each other — a workshop reading these views needs to trust that the ring band looks the same width in the top view as it does in the side view.

This lesson combines nearly everything so far into one construction sequence:

1. Draw the band using Radial Symmetry for an evenly-proportioned circle, rendered in your chosen metal (2.2).
2. Build the head/gallery — the raised platform where the center stone sits — as a distinct metal shape layered above the band.
3. Render your center stone (round brilliant or a fancy cut from 3.1) and set it into a prong setting (3.2), positioned on the gallery.
4. Add side stones (small round brilliants, channel-set or prong-set) flanking the center stone along the band's shoulders, using your saved diamond technique from 2.5 scaled down.
5. Render the band's top view fully, then produce a side-profile view (3.4) showing the same ring from the side — confirm the gallery height and prong visibility make structural sense from both angles.
6. Add a soft grounding shadow beneath the whole composition.

Now extend one design across a small collection — the core skill behind Level 3's capstone project.

1. Design the pendant using Vertical Symmetry so it's perfectly balanced, incorporating a bezel or prong-set stone from your library.
2. Attach a chain segment (3.3) with a jump ring/bail connecting it to the pendant.
3. Design a matching earring pair by reusing the pendant's core motif at a smaller scale — duplicate the pendant's layer group, scale it down via Transform, and simplify slightly (fewer stones or a smaller halo) so it reads as "part of the same family" without being a literal shrink of a necklace-scale piece.
4. Since earrings are a mirrored pair, draw one earring fully, then duplicate the entire layer group and use Transform → Flip Horizontal for the second one — do not hand-redraw the second earring, since even tiny asymmetries between a "matching" pair read as a mistake immediately.

• Canvas templates: save a blank canvas with your preferred DPI, a labeled multi-view layout grid (3.4), and your Metals palette already loaded as a reusable starting file in your Gallery — duplicate it for every new project instead of setting up from scratch.
• QuickMenu customization: in Settings → Gesture Controls → QuickMenu, assign your most-used actions (Copy, Paste, Duplicate Layer, your favorite brush) to a radial menu triggered by a custom tap gesture — shaves real time off repetitive multi-piece work.
• Component library: keep a running "Asset Library" canvas (or a Files folder of exported PNGs with transparent backgrounds) containing your best reusable pieces — a few finished stone renders per cut, a few setting types, a chain segment, standard findings, your metal palette. Copy-paste directly from this file into new designs instead of re-rendering a diamond from scratch every single time.

Design and fully render one cohesive 3-piece set — a ring, a matching pair of earrings, and a pendant — sharing the same metal, stone cut, and motif language, each shown in at least top and side view.