The idea for this drawing came to me after thinking more about one of my upcoming fanfics, called TheDepths of an Outsider's Heard. Without giving too much away, it's where Nuka is saved from dying during the ambush, and he's able to settle down and have the life he's always wanted thanks to that. Here, he's taking a walk in the Pride Lands with his oldest son, named Kito. He was eager to wake up early and do something with his father, being the energetic cub that he is. Nuka doesn't mind getting up this early since he truly loves being there for his cub(s), and wouldn't miss it for anything in the world.

Originally, this was drawn very differently than what you see now. I flipped the original image horizontally before I started coloring it, mainly because it looked too much like one of my earlier drawings with Kovu and Kion in it. At first, I wasn't sure how flipping the image would turn out, but in the long run, I think this came out even better than it would have if I didn't. To date, this my best attempt at drawing the sky, since I finally got the gradient effect to look right with the program I use. I'm personally impressed with the background in general, and the lighting was easier than usual for some reason.

The title of the drawing comes from the lyrics of a song called Beautiful Boy by John Lennon (From long after the Beatles' breakup). The song itself goes perfectly with the image in my opinion, and the lyrics flawlessly reflect what I was going for in drawing it. Here it is for those of you unfamiliar with it:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr96zm…

I've always wanted to imagine how Nuka would've looked if he had lived into adulthood, since when he died in the film, it was pretty obvious that he wasn't exactly fully grown yet. It took me a while to get his mane to look good, but ultimately, I ended up with what you see here. I personally really like it. He's been able to clean and groom his mane more often, now that he's living in the Pride Lands under Kovu's rule. He's no longer the greasy, scrawny lion we've come to know him as; He's grown up both mentally and physically, and here his soft mane has come into full size for him. But of course, he still leaves in some of that old scruffy look of his since Mila (his mate) likes it that way.

Let me know in the comments what you think!