The Process Of Wet Catification Of Arthur Lester 💕

'Desperation'

Day 2 of Malevoversary 2024!!!

My piece for this year's @malevolentbigbang I had a blast working on this piece for @calamitxtum's fic, The Essence of a Soul, can be read here. [ID: An illustration of Arthur, walking on a path next to a crumbling brick wall. He holds a lantern on one hand, which illuminates a rooster-shaped weathervane and a cellar hatch. Behind him, a forest looms in the distance. /End ID] (ID thanks to Jack!)

i keep saying this in different ways but i truly just adore arthur lester. he's the most resilient little bug in the whole world. nothing can keep him down. he is filled with rage and grief and joy and hope. he should've died so many times by now, but he cannot. his sheer fucking spirit and will has carried him through unimaginable horrors and it will carry him further

I finally caught up to malevolent and omg these two!!!! THESE TWO ISTG

My part of the Malevolent Big Bang event, an illustration for The Essence of a Soul by Calamitatum! The fic is very hurt/comfort and very much my vibe. Check it out!

Image ID and zoom-ins under cut

[ID: The image is in a portrait orientation, depicting the corner of a room with a smeared chalk pentagram on the ground. Arthur is on his back over the pentagram, his back arched and hands clawing toward his chest, seemingly in pain. Above him are two figures: John and a skeletal beast creature.. John is a shadowy being in a golden cloak with clawed hands and an abstract face with glowing yellow eyes. His entire being is a gradient of dark blue to purple and then pink, dotted with multiple stars. The skeletal beast is facing John and snarling. Its skull is almost canine, its teeth stretched outward and jagged. Its bones are jagged and protruding at its spine, and its ribs are showing at its torso. The bottom of its legs fade into shadow. End ID]

Arthur Lester’s moral philosophy basically boils down to “humanity is fundamentally good and noble and capable of a wonderful things…except for me (irredeemable monster) and everyone who reminds me too much of myself, who need to go die in a hole (preferably by my hand)”

And that’s hilarious

feels weird to say but arthur lester is the only protagonist i think i've ever genuinely, honestly, no exceptions, rooted for. i just need him to win. literally anything else can happen, i don't care, i need him to win in the end. it can be bittersweet, he can lose as much as he needs to along the way, i just need him to win in the end. he is all the human optimism left within me. if arthur lester wins in the end, hope matters and trying matters and kindness matters. harlan guthrie when i catch you,

'Do you think I'm evil?'

Shout out to part 31 for breaking me mentally

John and Arthur in this order

There’s only a shadow of me; in a matter of speaking, I'm dead