Illustrator help: black outline

[whammoed]

I have a character I drew in illustrator.  I want to put a thin black outline around him so he looks good on a white background.  Is there an easy (or at least right) way to do this?  I assume I would want a black shape just slightly larger that sits behind the character.  But simply scaling of course does not result in the correct shape...

[BobbyG66]

You can try this:

1) Create a new layer.
2) Copy and paste your artwork into this new layer.
3) Lock the original artwork layer.
4) Select all shapes in your new layer.
5) Set the fill to blank.
6) Set the outline to black.
7) Under Pathfinder select Merge.

This should give you one shape that is just an outline.
Move this layer behind your artwork and adjust the scale of the outline to what you like.

That should work...

[whammoed]

Got it, Thanks!