This regal sculpture of a lion is larger-than-life sized, and stands about 5 feet tall. This sculpture is, to date, one of my most popular (and oft copied!) sculptures.

• The original sculpture is traveling as part of my exhibit, Animal Super Powers
• An official copy of this sculpture is part of The Denver Zoo’s permanent collection
• An official copy of The Philadelphia Zoo’s permanent collection.
• An official copy is part of the exhibition Les Fables de La Fontaine, traveling through France
• A fake copy was made by another LEGO builder in France
• A fake copy is on display in LEGOLAND Billund

We spend a lot of time on the eyes and face; I wanted the lion to look regal, relaxed, and a little sophisticated.

And yes, those whiskers are LEGO pieces!  They are old fibre optic pieces found in some space sets from the early 2000s.

Building it

My assistants Geoffrey and Jisun spent a lot of time designing the body and the face of the lion.

For reference, we search online through lots of photos and videos of real lions, and try to get the expression just right.  Color, in particular, was tricky with the lion’s eyes.  We settled on a hard-to-find golden-colored radar dish as the iris of the eye, which perfectly mirrored the cool golden gaze of the real thing.