「look」と「look like」の違い

The other day I started a Twitter account and put up a profile picture of myself.

Someone told me:

× You look like evil.
◯ You look evil.

Wow! "Evil" has so many possibilities in Japanese, according to Edict:

厄, 禍害, マレフィック, 厄難, 仇, 悪, イーブル, 邪, 邪悪, 凶, 悪弊, 不善

× For me, it looks like hard to learn so many kanji.
◯ For me, it looks hard to learn so many kanji.
◯ For me, it looks like it will be hard to learn so many kanji.

The rule is:

• look + (adj)
• look like + (n)
• look like + (sentence)

So, how about that? See?! I'm not evil! Pale, yes. Too lazy to shave, yes. Evil, no.

• pale complexion 《a ～》青白い顔色 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)