Aardvarkish Effluvium (commission)

Many months ago I was commissioned (again) to make a series of Discord server icons. This is the same client who previously commissioned such gems as Enraptured Athoracophoridae and Erudite Australopithecus, so I knew I was going to be in for something interesting. Just like last time, I was given a list of phrases whose words started with E and A, then asked to illustrate them. I was given minimal direction other than the occasional explanation when I asked what some of the words meant.

Have you ever watched the PBS Kids series, Arthur? It’s a cartoon about anthropomorphic animals in third grade who learn to work, play, and get along with each other. The titular character, Arthur, is an aardvark. It’s got a pretty good theme song.

Now, I don’t know about you, but as a kid I did not get that the characters were modelled after animals. I mean, I knew they weren’t humans, but it didn’t help that not only had I never even heard of an aardvark, but the main character in fact looks nothing like a real-world aardvark.

Anyway, telogen effluvium is a kind of hair loss often caused by severe stress, resulting in thin hair. One imagines Arthur at forty, torn between a faltering marriage and declining job prospects, suffering from stress-related hair loss, remembering the wonderful third-grade days when nothing mattered and his only problem was his sister DW.

He’s got bills to pay now. His body isn’t what it used to be. He can’t remember the last time he could believe in himself.