Where the eyes go
How much does one gaze tag change the read of a person?
Gaze is the smallest thing on a face and the largest lever on how it reads. Meeting the viewer or avoiding them turns the same face into two people.
The four cuts share a face, an outfit and a background, and differ by one gaze tag.
Every cut below shares one seed, one base prompt and one sampler setting, and differs only by the tag marked in amber.
What each cut shows
looking at viewer- The head stays turned; only the eyes come round to meet you. The subject becomes aware of being seen, and the distance closes.
looking away- Turns aside. The viewer drops outside the scene and the subject retreats into herself.
looking up- The head goes back with the eyes — the neck and jaw change angle, so the composition shifts too.
looking back- Over the shoulder: the body faces away while the head returns, and the torsion carries the frame.
How these were made
Shared prompt
masterpiece, best quality, amazing quality, very awa, 1girl, solo, mature female, adult woman, short black hair, brown eyes, white blouse, upper body, plain grey background, soft lighting, <tag slot>
Tap a tag to carry it over to the builder
Negative prompt
nsfw, nude, topless, bikini, swimsuit, lingerie, underwear, cleavage, suggestive, school uniform, pleated skirt, child, loli, teenage, bad quality, worst quality, worst detail, censor, jpeg artifacts, watermark, signature, text, extra limbs, bad hands, bad anatomy
Model
rinFlanimeIllustrious_v30 · euler_ancestral/normal · steps 28 · CFG 5 · 896×1152 · seed 777030
Takeaway
Gaze tags do not stop at the eyes. Head, neck and shoulder angles come along, so they can collide with a pose tag.
How far this result reaches
Below portrait or upper body, this barely shows. A small face means a small gaze.
Measured on a single Stable Diffusion family checkpoint. The same tags can behave differently on NovelAI, Midjourney or another checkpoint. This is a reference point, not a verdict.