On Emp at lower right, behold my beloved “profile cheat” at work! That is, I show a profile shot of Emp in a context in which, theoretically at least, her face should be turned away from the camera to face the alien below. I am loath, however, to miss out on any opportunity to show a character’s facial expression as she reacts to something she’s seeing; so, instead, I draw a side view of Emp’s face, here, even though this technically means that her eyeline isn’t directly pointing down at the alien below. I’ve generally felt that my art style is cartoony enough for the “profile cheat” to still work, whereas with a more strictly realistic art approach, the reader could really notice that the character isn’t quite facing in the right direction. (Interestingly enough, of late I’ve begun to have my doubts about the profile cheat’s efficacy, but that’s another story.)

Then again, the highly stylized head construction used by many mangaka—or manga-influenced artists, such as yrs trly—emphatically does not lend itself well to drawing oblique facial angles in which the face is mostly but not entirely turned away from the camera. This leads to some comically awkward images from otherwise skilled manga artists, featuring odd, bulging eyes popping out around the sides of turned-away faces. (I’ve always steered clear of such approaches, hence the profile cheat.)

-Adam Warren