I was reminded that Alien Black, White, and Blood was a thing and rushed to read both issues to it's current point. I'm super glad that we got a look into the UPP side of things and I hope that means we can touch on other areas too like the Three World Empire, The Independent Core Star Systems, and The Frontier. Feels like that is a mine of untapped potential that has been neglected for decades. It's why I appreciate Fireteam Elite so much, it expanded the entire universe as a real fleshed out universe that had historic events, inventions, conflicts between powers and people.
As for the tracing, at this point expect this to be the norm until the higher ups start paying their artists more and lessen the deadline timing. There is a saying "work smarter, not harder" so if there is an Alien figure that they can use to convey the action and thought of the being without spending so much time, they will do it.