Here's the description I wrote for Panel 3:
PANEL 3: Sonya draws herself up proudly. She's on sound scientific as well as moral grounds here.
8. SONYA: Mr. Slade. Even if I were WILLING to accede to your RIDICULOUS demands, I'd be FOOLISH to promise that short a TIME-TABLE for its completion.
And I thought the best pose for "draw[ing] herself up proudly" would be to have her cross her arms over her chest.
Of such simple-seeming decisions are major artistic challenges sometimes composed!
For most people, crossing the arms over the chest is an activity that can be done almost without thinking... that is, if you're a guy, or a woman with a "normal"-sized bosom. But what of Sonya and women like her? How would they cross their arms over their chests? Sonya can't cross her arms under her bosom, or she'll look like a porno actress "offering" her breasts to her lover. Would she even think about crossing her arms? Is that even a habit a big-busted woman would develop?
I'd considered putting her hands on her hips, but I draw that pose a lot already.) So the only pose I thought would work was to cross her arms over (that is to say, on top of) her breasts. It took quite a few drawings to get right, but I think the finished drawing works.
(And I wound up drawing her in a "hands on hips" pose in Panel 4 after all.)
© 2005 David C. Matthews