Monthly Illustration - Feb '24 WIPs and Prelims (Patreon)

Really wanted to work on value and layout on this piece and finally 'cracking the code' on the idea for sketches I had last month.

Here's the rough sketch, a value study, a colorized value study, and then just the really simple stand-in background i threw together. 

Really want that BIG lion in the back to be somewhat faded and lighter in value than the other four foreground characters to REALLY emphasize that he's not just tall and nearby, but he's also bigger than that and further away. Not 100% sure it's working yet but we'll get there by the time we hit finals.

Very happy with the face on the bottom here.

Question, to those of you who can see these: 

Can't decide if the big daddy lion in the back arranged all this and is enforcing a rule here, putting this smaller male lion in his place by forcing him to submit to these zebras
-or-
If the larger lion just walked up and interrupted this event, which would make the other characters here surprised/embarrassed/afraid (except the bottom lion who's either all for it or oblivious.

My only aim is to try to avoid the low-hanging fruit of a father/son connection with the two lions because, a. it's not the lion king, even though the art style shaped my work and b. I'm personally really icked by dad/son stuff, so I wanna avoid my own discomfort.

Any further ideas on a narrative to weave here with expressions? Thanks in advance!