I feel like the stuff I’ve been drawing lately is coming out super-fast. Most of it I don’t even bother with a linear sketch for; I just draw major shapes rapidly, with something like the correct layering, then go back in and add some shadows to show where one part overlaps another. Maybe separate bits off onto their own layer, if the drawing merits it. Maybe don’t bother. It depends on how complex the character is and how much I want to get into the shading.
I’m pretty sure spending four years working in super-limited three-color palettes helped make this happen quickly. My visual cortex spent four years thinking about pretty much nothing but delineating things via shading. And now it can do that so quickly that the only real speed limit is how quickly I can whip out the paths. Which is pretty quickly. Being able to just say “this thing is PINK so it’ll be pink”, then add some translucent shadows or highlights in whatever color of light I want, feels like such a luxury.