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Description
Another day in Glenmetropolis, another humiliating defeat for poor Marcus...

In the City Of A Million Heroes, there are just as many villains, and much like their heroic counterparts, not all who aspire to infamy reach its highest summits. This abundance of evildoers has created a market for "mercenary" villains, superpowered criminals-for-hire. One such villainess is Carmen Apestosa, also known as Ladylips. The middle-aged divorcée turned to supercrime after realizing her husky voice, which she'd been hired to use for voiceovers on an upcoming (now cancelled) cartoon project, could temporarily stun and disorient those around her when hitting the right frequency range. She has since developed into a serviceable villainess, but hasn't quite made the name for herself she'd hoped for.

Little did she know that was about to change when she was hired by an art connoisseur to ruin a competitor's private gallery. "Don't destroy the art, simply render it worthless" were her instructions. Easy enough to do. She walked around, smoking cigarettes, exhaling directly at the priceless textile murals and paintings. Little did she know someone was out to crash her party.

Fourstrings.

The young man didn't play around, attempting to capture Ladylips with his bass strings, nearly doing so a few times before the villainess let out a low hum. The hero's entire body was shaking, stunning him as the villainess approached him. "Why do men always resort to violence..." she playfully pondered, her husky voice aggravating the nigh-paralysis overtaking Fourstrings. She wrapped a hand around the young man's waist. Marcus tried to regain control of himself, but his entire body was in spasms still.

It was then he would learn Ladylips' secret weapon. Indeed, while most who fought her were aware of the stunning vocal frequencies, very few witnessed her hypnotic kisses. And indeed, Marcus would witness it. Again and again... In truth, he only witnessed it once, his mind drawing a complete blank the second the villainess' lips made contact with his...

That evening, the old saying couldn't have been more true for Carmen - Do what you love and you won't work a day in your life... As for Fourstrings, well, he can't complain. Literally or otherwise...

---

First drawing of 2023! A belated Happy New Year to you all. This piece was something else. There are about six unfinished or otherwise unused sketches mixed in to form this image. Carmen alone is about half of those. She was such a fun character to draw as is that I initially didn't even have a persona for her until well into this drawing. Speaking of, Ladylips was just a spur-of-the-moment name on account of the lip logo I'd drawn, but it eventually stuck. Expect to see more of her in the future.

As for Fourstrings, this started out pretty straightforward. The pose was a tad tricky but he was shirtless, wearing only boxer shorts, very little details other than the lipstick marks and hypnotic eyes. For some reason, the pose I'd given Carmen lent itself well to her right hand landing on Marcus' chest. So, the idea of his shirt being rolled up formed, and as Carmen became Ladylips, I started to sketch out Fourstrings' costume over my already-existing outline. Hours later, this is the result!

The plaque under the painting in the background is a satire of a lot of pretentious description of art I've seen, read and heard to this day. With art being a very personal and subjective matter, both from the perspective of the creator and the person "receiving" the art, be it viewing, listening, playing, or any combination thereof, having definitive explanations or "agreed upon" interpretations, especially in more abstract and/or avant-garde works, always seems to go against the nature of art itself for me. Then again, who am I to judge, right?

Let me know what you think!

Marcus Bassman a.k.a. Fourstrings, Carmen Apestosa a.k.a. Ladylips, Sergio Nucks, Glenmetropolis ©

Description
Another day in Glenmetropolis, another humiliating defeat for poor Marcus...

In the City Of A Million Heroes, there are just as many villains, and much like their heroic counterparts, not all who aspire to infamy reach its highest summits. This abundance of evildoers has created a market for "mercenary" villains, superpowered criminals-for-hire. One such villainess is Carmen Apestosa, also known as Ladylips. The middle-aged divorcée turned to supercrime after realizing her husky voice, which she'd been hired to use for voiceovers on an upcoming (now cancelled) cartoon project, could temporarily stun and disorient those around her when hitting the right frequency range. She has since developed into a serviceable villainess, but hasn't quite made the name for herself she'd hoped for.

Little did she know that was about to change when she was hired by an art connoisseur to ruin a competitor's private gallery. "Don't destroy the art, simply render it worthless" were her instructions. Easy enough to do. She walked around, smoking cigarettes, exhaling directly at the priceless textile murals and paintings. Little did she know someone was out to crash her party.

Fourstrings.

The young man didn't play around, attempting to capture Ladylips with his bass strings, nearly doing so a few times before the villainess let out a low hum. The hero's entire body was shaking, stunning him as the villainess approached him. "Why do men always resort to violence..." she playfully pondered, her husky voice aggravating the nigh-paralysis overtaking Fourstrings. She wrapped a hand around the young man's waist. Marcus tried to regain control of himself, but his entire body was in spasms still.

It was then he would learn Ladylips' secret weapon. Indeed, while most who fought her were aware of the stunning vocal frequencies, very few witnessed her hypnotic kisses. And indeed, Marcus would witness it. Again and again... In truth, he only witnessed it once, his mind drawing a complete blank the second the villainess' lips made contact with his...

That evening, the old saying couldn't have been more true for Carmen - Do what you love and you won't work a day in your life... As for Fourstrings, well, he can't complain. Literally or otherwise...

---

First drawing of 2023! A belated Happy New Year to you all. This piece was something else. There are about six unfinished or otherwise unused sketches mixed in to form this image. Carmen alone is about half of those. She was such a fun character to draw as is that I initially didn't even have a persona for her until well into this drawing. Speaking of, Ladylips was just a spur-of-the-moment name on account of the lip logo I'd drawn, but it eventually stuck. Expect to see more of her in the future.

As for Fourstrings, this started out pretty straightforward. The pose was a tad tricky but he was shirtless, wearing only boxer shorts, very little details other than the lipstick marks and hypnotic eyes. For some reason, the pose I'd given Carmen lent itself well to her right hand landing on Marcus' chest. So, the idea of his shirt being rolled up formed, and as Carmen became Ladylips, I started to sketch out Fourstrings' costume over my already-existing outline. Hours later, this is the result!

The plaque under the painting in the background is a satire of a lot of pretentious description of art I've seen, read and heard to this day. With art being a very personal and subjective matter, both from the perspective of the creator and the person "receiving" the art, be it viewing, listening, playing, or any combination thereof, having definitive explanations or "agreed upon" interpretations, especially in more abstract and/or avant-garde works, always seems to go against the nature of art itself for me. Then again, who am I to judge, right?

Let me know what you think!

Marcus Bassman a.k.a. Fourstrings, Carmen Apestosa a.k.a. Ladylips, Sergio Nucks, Glenmetropolis ©