In 2012 I was delighted to get to work with the amazing Rebecca Sugar on some concept and visual development for her wonderful new show on Cartoon Network, STEVEN UNIVERSE!

Along with doing concept for the Crystal Gems Temple (you can see more of the Crystal Temple over at the Steven Crewniverse Tumblr too), I also worked on some monster concept and an early design for Steven’s Lion~ who started off a bit more “sketchy” looking!

The first idea I kicked around with Rebecca was that Lion would be an unsettling, silent caricature of a lion, like an old medieval heraldry image. His face frozen into an uncertain grin except for his eyes which would follow Steven around while he creeped out the other Crystal Gems. He might not be pretty and actually kinda suspicious, but Steven loved him!

…I blame the forehead wrinkles…

That idea never went past my initial sketches, but in the end Steven got his Lion courtesy of Rebecca and her amazing team! And let’s face it~ he turned out damn cute! Be sure to check out new episodes of Steven Universe~ including a new Lion episode on Dec 4!