A lion who wants to be a tiger

This is part of a series I have been consistently working on, depicting young animals. The theme of this series is children’s imagination, showing the animals engaging in pretend play, such as becoming superhero teams or other animals. Additionally, the series addresses how these young animals rebel against the simplistic and one-sided projections we humans often impose, such as "cute" or "majestic." The combination of two-dimensional and three-dimensional elements in the same artwork is an attempt to express both the image I have painted and the image imagined by the animal children themselves (an image within an image). This piece specifically illustrates the gap between how the animal children wish to see themselves and how those around them expect them to be.