An Illustrator Behind 'The Lion King' Created an Incredible Tribute to Cecil the Lion

If you have yet to be touched by the killing of Cecil the Lion by some prick dentist, prepared to get all choked up like Jimmy Kimmel. The artist Aaron Blaise, who worked on animated Disney films like Mulan, Pocahontas, Aladdin, and most relevantly, The Lion King, has created a portrait of Cecil along with a video documenting the picture's creation.

The sped-up video shows Blaise drawing the portrait, which recreates a scene from The Lion King, in Photoshop. The video also finishes with a famous quote from the movie that alludes to Simba's dead father, "Look at the stars. The great kings of the past look down on us from those stars." Blaise posted the completed image to his Instagram, which you see above.

Blaise wrote about why he created the image on his blog. "When I heard the news about Cecil I got inspired to create a tribute image," he wrote. "It’s not much but hopefully it will make people think." The death of Cecil has got many talking about implementing stricter enforcement on animal poaching in Africa.

Watch the video of the portrait's creation below.