Can you point out an example where you don't think it's ugly? That's pretty much the way to do the outlines for cel shading: copy the mesh, push out the vertices, invert the normals, and color the copy black.
Incidentally, note that that's just the black outlines. For the actual shading, you'll want to use spherical environment mapping.
Incidentally, note that that's just the black outlines. For the actual shading, you'll want to use spherical environment mapping.