Embroidery digitizing is really the art of seeing the essence within the design and expressing it in thread. Because thread is physical layer above the garment material you can completely change the appearance simply by altering thread angle or pattern. Because most digitizing starts with an existing design the carefully considered manipulation of the thread can transform a solid field of green into individual leaves or  solid field of gray into separate stones. Why do a silhouette of a man when, with some minor tweaks you can give the body definition and make it sew better at the same time.