#illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

been thinkin about this jacket. and also this punk 

#ranmaru kurosaki #kurosaki ranmaru #uta no prince sama #utapri #ranmaru utapri #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

Hey, remember that Shining Quest AU I made and the Ranmaru redesign that came with it? Yeah, me neither. 

#ranmaru kurosaki #shining quest #illkickyourbassart #uta no prince sama #utapri

[illkickyourbass]

i know this would probably be out of the question bc idol and etc. but like. imagine ranmaru with tattoos 

(thank you @fishfish-everywhere and @missrockstars77 for tattoo suggestions!) 

#ranmaru kurosaki #uta no prince sama #illkickyourbassart #it's been so long since i've done a pinup!!!! i used to love doing these.... #originally just cuz lingerie is fun but this wasn't the piece for that #sometimes i wonder if i'm drawing ranmaru too much #and then i realize i really don't care i'm stressed as hell and he's so fun and easy to draw #i've also been looking for an excuse to draw a flying v for a while and finally found it!!!! #altho tbh I don't see a ton of flying v basses and i think that's for a reason #but like idfc let ran have all the beautiful bass guitars #ranmaru

[illkickyourbass]

I can’t actually follow up on my urge to hug a kaiju rn so a good midpoint is this spiky asshole from the dragon!AU! Thanks @utanoprinces and @weenie-kun for all the work y’all put into this AU, I’m having a wonderful time playing in this sandbox 

#illkickyourbassart #utapri dragon au #ranmaru kurosaki #his dragon form references t-rex skulls and muscular tiger bodies! #with some more influences from horned lizards and a little bit of ankylosaurus hehe

[illkickyourbass]

I really, really don’t like Ranmaru’s original Shining Quest outfit  (it’s too anachronistic, and the trilby/necktie/untucked button-down made the whole thing feel like an ill-fitting Spirit of Halloween costume). But I do really like Ranmaru, and the challenge of keeping the original idea as much intact but making it mesh better with high fantasy sounded fun! (I mean, there are elements I like about the original design...the color palette is great, and I like the general idea of using glitzy Vegas trappings to integrate Ranmaru’s image color, etc...) 

Here’s a big big bonus: an accompanying fic under the cut! (SFW, reader-ran meet cute, non-gendered protag, not explicitly romantic, mild cw for violence and arranged marriages!) 

You traveled down the alley, uncomfortable in your disguise and your predicament. You never liked plans that made anyone a sitting duck, and you didn’t like wearing a stupid outfit that absolutely yelled you were ripe for the mugging.

It’s only a matter of time before the small-time bandits start to trail, and then even less until one tries to mug you. He’s an idiot, average in size and easy to overpower, and he panics and begs as you pin him against the wall.

“I need you to bring me to someone.”

The other bandits scatter, inevitably relaying the message.

------------------

He’s a weird someone. A swindler who’s not big on honeyed words or grand schemes. He’s notoriously rude and straightforward, relying on sheer guts and intuition (and punching) to move mountains of money and curate the back alleys the way he’d like. Your own gut tells you he’s the man you need, but finding him by yourself went nowhere. You needed someone who knew the pulse of the underground better than you -- which really meant you needed any dumb fuck who could read the thieves’ cant left all over town and you could throw around a little.

“Here!” Your bandit reads the chalked marks on streetcorners, eventually leading you to an unmarked back alley. Two cats sit on a crate, and you see a figure dressed in white, black, and red, leaning against a wall in the dull light of a lamppost.

“Beat it,” you murmur, and push the bandit away. He takes the memo quickly and splits.

The man is still far off from you, but you can still make out his mismatched eyes as he speaks loudly, clearly, and harshly.

“What the fuck does a royal guard want from me?”

Secretly, you’re relieved you don’t have to keep up disguises anymore. “It’s not that weird for me to approach the son of a noble,” you say, barely hiding the anticipation bubbling in your chest.

“Tch.” He glowers at you from under his hat, and he shows his hand, three small dice between each finger. You already know this is him baring his teeth. You’re not sure if he knows you know the kind of ruin he can make with those dice, but he’s not backing down. “Answer my question.”

Your feet move before you can think, and so do your hands. You’re dashing at him, drawing your blade, startling the cats as they noisily leap off the crate. For a split second, you notice he’s distracted -- he even seems to bark after them, but you’re too much of a threat for him to give chase. He steps away from your charge and throws his dice, landing with a clatter before they erupt into flame. You leave yourself open as you escape the heat, and he barrels into you. Gods, he really is strong.

Soon you’re pinned to the ground, but you’ve drawn a knife to his neck, glinting orange as the fire dies down. You lock eyes with him, thoughts wheeling faster than you can process and adrenaline firing even faster than that. He is frowning and looking just as intense and wild as you feel. This is him, you think. I’ve finally found him. Ranmaru, the son of a disgraced Kurosaki nobles, who disappeared from the court to pay family debts and spare them the same fate. And instead of being swallowed whole, he rose up. Not just as the new prince of the underworld, but as the sort of man who’ll swindle only the ruthless of their money and bully those who line their pockets by haranguing the helpless.

It takes some time for you to notice you can feel his pulse, traveling from his neck, through your blade, and softly beating in your hand.

“I need your help,” you blurt out.

Ranmaru makes a confused an exasperated sound.

“The princess has disappeared and that’s not an accident and --”

“Slow down!” he growls. “I already knew that, jackass, that’s old news--”

“NO! Shut up, listen to me! I made her disappear! Nobody announced it but she was gonna get married off to some demon king to serve some creepy old prophecy and I thought that was a stupid solution so I stashed her with her girlfriend --”

“Do you ever stop to breathe!?”

You clap your free hand over his mouth. “-- but now the rest of the guard is onto me and now I need to disappear but still keep an eye on the princess but also still be able to keep up enough with everything so I can figure out some kind of way to fix all this!”

Ranmaru, frowning even harder than before, tears your hand off his mouth. “Are you done?”  You nod. “Can you take your damn knife off my neck now?” You oblige. Almost reluctantly, between not wanting to lose the advantage and that odd, intimate grasp on how fragile his heartbeat is. But Ranmaru releases you from the pin, grabs his now-extinguished dice, and offers you a hand up. You hesitate to take it, and he looks annoyed for a moment.

“Listen, you’ve got an honest look to you. You’d be a shitty mark and I don’t want to pull any horseshit on you. C’mon, stop wasting our time.”

So you do. His grip is firm, strong, and warm, even through his runed gloves. Worryingly, he also doesn’t let go and grips aggressively hard.

“If you wanted my help in the first place, why the hell did you come at me like that?”

“.....I panicked,” you answer honestly.

Ranmaru snorts. “Some royal guard you are.”

“Hey, dingbat, what do you expect?!” you reply indignantly, now squeezing back just as aggressively. “I’m on the lam, I’m dressed so I look like sharkbait to any nutsack who wants a quick buck, I’m a couple of goof-ups away from being charged with treason, and I was staring down someone I’ve admired for a super long time now --”

“Admired?” Of all the things to catch him off-guard, you don’t expect it to be that. (You also didn’t expect to say that to begin with -- but with desperate times come desperate confessions, you suppose.) Ranmaru breaks eye contact and grits his teeth, hiding his awkwardness by intently stuffing his dice into a bag on his belt.

“...yeah.” You decide it isn’t worth walking it back. “...I’ve admired how you rose from ash and protected people along the way. That’s the biggest reason I sought you out instead of anyone else.”

He clearly has no idea with what to do with that. You can feel the wheels turning in his head as he tries and process such an idea.

“Mm. Ah, well. I’m hungry,” he says, looking away and straightening his hat that wasn’t in any sort of disarray. He starts to walk to a nondescript door along the alley before turning to look back at you, once more scowling. “....Are you coming or what?” he says, sounding irritated. You just give him a quizzical look. “Well, we clearly have a lot to discuss, and it’d be stupid to do it hungry,” he returns. He knocks in a specific cadence before throwing open the door, the warm smell of spiced spirits and roasting meat blasting out like the heat from an oven.

And hope swells in your chest, intoxicated by this future unfolding for you besides the gambler prince.

(P.S. VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: THE PRINCESS AND HER GF ARE HARU AND TOMO) 

#ranmaru kurosaki #kurosaki ranmaru #uta no prince sama #utapri #shining quest #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

petition to rename team badass to “billionaire boys club” and have them seize the ip and do all the editorials henceforth 

(interim pic! idk when i’ll feel like scanning this and/or if there’ll be a lot of editing needed...plus in my experience paint markers scan pretty poorly anyways. *shruggies*) 

#tho rest assured i still want to guillotine all billionaires #(jinguujis n hijirikawas redistribute your wealth challenge) #ren jinguuji #masato hijirikawa #uta no prince sama #illkickyourbassart #ranmaru kurosaki #this was actually my first go at Poscas bc I was broke when they were real popular LOL #i like combining them with copics! tho they really do emphasize their unevenness #might make a digital version of this since I kinda wanna make some utapri prints!

[illkickyourbass]

Aaaaand here’s Ai!

Before starting the airship Quartet Night, Reiji was sent an anonymous gift -- Ai, an artificial human, made in equal parts by alchemy, witchcraft, robotics, and a misplaced desire to see Reiji and Aine take to the skies once again. Although initially Reiji and Ai had absolutely no idea what to make of one another, they eventually arrived at the same conclusion: Ai was his own being, and he deserved to experience every last inch of the sky on his own terms. Reiji started the Quartet Night, Ai now its navigator and helmsman, and once again took off into the blue. 

Despite being a senior member on the airship, Ai is treated affectionately if not protectively by his crewmates. He holds his own in combat with his synthesizer-shield, but perhaps they pick up on the weight of feeling like a replacement Ai has on his shoulders. Maybe it’s his aloof but intent curiosity for every new place they explore, or maybe it’s how his bluntness helps keep the whole crew honest. However it is, Ai is an irreplacable and beloved part of the Quartet Night, and at some point in the journey everyone hopes he’ll come to believe it.  

No sketch or extra notes this time, since most of the visdev was done on post-it notes I’ve already thrown out, and the description takes care of the rest. I imagine him as a buffer with some offensive capacity! 

#granbluexutapri #ai mikaze #mikaze ai #utapri #uta no prince sama #granblue fantasy #ai #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

I did it! 

#i'm never doing it again! #illkickyourbassart #ranmaru kurosaki #utapri shining live #utapri fateful encounter #let's be real i wanted to princess carry this asshole in this outfit the second i laid eyes on it #this was my first time tiering in utapri ever!!! and t1ing in anything ever!!!

[illkickyourbass]

Here’s all four of ‘em together! I think it’s pretty obvious I didn’t focus so much on building them to look like a united team as much as highlighting their individual characteristics, but I do like how their image color sashes/capes/scarves pull ‘em together juuuuust enough that I’m satisfied. (They must be a sight with the wind blowing, haha!) 

Anyways, it feels great to put a cap on this little project! It’s about to be my busy season for work!art, and this was a great way to recover some visual thinking juices and energy. Thanks for your warm reception to this weird, niche crossover!! I had a blast <3  Who turned out to be your favorite?? 

#granbluexutapri #reiji kotobuki #ranmaru kurosaki #camus #ai mikaze #camus utapri #utapri #uta no prince sama #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

It’s been SO LONG since I gave myself a project that was 1) small enough to not take months/years 2) didn’t ultimately go towards teaching, so I’ve had lots of motivation for keeping up with the Granblue AU :) Here’s Camus! 

The Silk Palace is secluded society of Crystalia, a humanoid species that constantly give off a bone-chilling cold. Most have never met anyone from outside their ranks, and even fewer even attempt to venture off their home island -- they know they are received unkindly by others more often than not. The Silk Queen will occasionally handpick a subject to be reared from childhood to spend their future skyfaring, bid with the mission to search for “spring.”  Only when they discover what calms their chill and come to completely understand it are they permitted to return. 

Camus is one of those subjects, and he’s already found his “spring.” He is absolutely appalled he did, though, because it’s gotten him stuck amidst a band of miserable peasants on the airship Quartet Night! His first touch of warmth came during a chance performance/battle with them, where he used his cello, swordsmanship, and fearsome ice attacks to help quell a rampaging Primal. He’s now a reluctant member of their crew (even though he’s the one who invited himself on) until he figures out why *these* are the plebians that cultivate his spring. As repentance, they will keep the Quartet Night heartily stocked with stores of sugars and sweets of every variety -- no matter what that pesky Kurosaki says about the galley needing more meat! 

I didn’t come up with a moveset for Camus (mostly because I imagine him as the glass cannon for the team...so it’s just a lot of Crazy Massive Damage) but sketches and some notes under the jump! 

There’s honestly not a tonnnnnn to say about Camus’ design? I mean, other than I’m feeling very smug about combining a rapier and a bow, there’s no better weapon for this priss lmfao. Especially bc this theoretically means he’s stabbing anyone/everyone who gets too close to him while he’s playing cello...or he could just switch right into fencing as needed! 

I like the idea that his cello is carved from some sort of blessed material) like a specific kind of ice that’s been blessed by an aurora), and that Silk Palace citizens in Camus’ position (groomed as dignitaries, warriors, and skyfarers) have to make their own as a coming-of-age ceremony of sorts. Do some hard labor, dingus! I also know that Reiji can’t get him to do a DAMN thing when it comes to ship chores. At first, Reiji would just do them for him, but Ranmaru eventually caught wise, thought that was stupid, gave reiji an earful that he needed to be harder on Camus, tried to show Reiji how to be tough on Camus, gave Camus SO much hell, probably called him an aurora whorealis, and STILL couldn’t get him to do a damn thing....so Ranmaru just took over doing his chores. (At least ‘til Ai made an impossibly sophisticated chore wheel that solved the whole problem, hahaha.) 

Anyways, Ai’s going to be the most challenging of the group! His aesthetic is so far out of my usual wheelhouses, and I’m still thinking up how exactly to translate a synthesizer into high-fantasy/GBF vision......but Granblue has a whole canonical martial art based on fidget spinners (I’M NOT LYING) so I’m sure I’ll figure something out! 

#granbluexutapri #utapri camus #camus #granblue fantasy #quartet night #uta no prince sama #utapri #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

can’t wait for the every buddy sitcom 

#syo kurusu #reiji kotobuki #utapri #uta no prince sama #illkickyourbassart #they're so cute i had to draw em!!! #even if I think syo should be wearing a white viv westwood shirt #(i compromised by giving him the sex pistols doc martens lol) #i'm still so in love with Reiji's outfit.......mismatched three-piece suit in midtones with lots of mixed patterns is just so perfect!!!! #that's just like Him as a person u kno? #(as much as bombers and nubby sweaters haha)

[illkickyourbass]

I’m impatient so I’ll just upload Granblue!Quartet Night as I finish ‘em (and keep them pretty dang loose hahaha)! I’m verrrrry transparent about Ranmaru being my favorite so y’all knew we were starting with him, lollll. 

This hot-blooded but reliable Erune hails from a prominent family of airship manufacturers, but after their company went into financial ruin, Ranmaru took to the skies with his unique style of hardcore music-channeled fire magic. He tried to strike it first as an entertainer, but was eventually forced into more brutish work to keep food on the table. Lingering gossip eventually earned him a reputation as a ruthless, violent cutthroat willing to do terrible things for the sake of pay, and Ranmaru began to lose work from all but the most unsavory clientele. Despite that (and his grouchy temperament), the goofy but shrewd captain of the airship Quartet Night saw his unshakable sense of responsibility and natural showmanship and recruited him. 

Now part-time head of the Quartet Night’s galley, part-time adventurer, and full-time grumpy mom friend to everyone aboard, Ranmaru’s new life in the skies is finally looking auspicious -- though you wouldn’t guess it from how little his perpetual scowl has lifted. 

Skills, stats, and outfit talk (plus another little sketch) under the jump! 

Type: Fire / Erune / Balanced (Attack-Support) / Harp | Axe 

Charge Attack: I’ll Rock You Hard! : Massive fire damage. Allies gain +1 Hyped.   SKILLS:  Eat Your Damn Omurice! : Allies gain Refresh. (Lasts: 3 turns / Cooldown: 5 turns)  Battle Bass: Fire damage to all foes. Gain +1 Hyped. (Lasts: 2 turns / Cooldown: 7 turns)  Banana Flambe: 150%-250% fire damage to all foes. Allies gain Debuff Resistance. (Lasts: 3 turns / Cooldown: 7 turns) 

PASSIVE SKILL:  

Red Hot Rockin’ Passion: Allies gain Fire Def Up when gaining Hype. (Does not stack.) 

It’s been a bit since I’ve designed a costume for a pre-built world and it was so fun! I love anytime I get to combine hardcore music fashion (leather, studs, doc marten-a-likes, etc.) with SFF aesthetics, and Granblue’s particular brand of fucky, airshippy boisterousness is so easy to get my style to fit into! A little sad Ran’s molten rock bass covered up his oversize studded belt, which plus the pants I think is my favorite part of the design.....I barely do any pant silhouette that isn’t skinny jeans plus sneakers, but he needed those big ears balanced out. 

I haven’t thought about if he cooks shirtless. Like, reason says a big momfriend-in-denial-type like Ran wouldn’t, he’d fucking put some pragmatic apron on, but like, it’s anime fantasy, we all want a shirtless edgelord catboy cooking us a meal. (SHRUGGIES) 

#ranmaru kurosaki #kurosaki ranmaru #quartet night #granbluexutapri #granblue fantasy #uta no prince sama #utapri #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

More Granblue AU! Heeeeere’s Cap’n Reiji!!!

Occasionally you’ll hear word in the skies of a fearsome captain. He’s stocked his crew with the toughest, deadliest mercenaries this side of the Grim Basin, and his heart has grown cunning and cold after losing his precious first mate to a bloody conflict. To cross blows with him is to court death -- not a soul can penetrate his earthen barriers and unpredictable strategies, and the last thing his foes hear before succumbing is a haunting death rattle.   These are, of course, just wild rumors. Not that anyone would believe this goofy, floppy-eared Erune could be such a terrifying force to begin with! Reiji is the charming captain of the airship Quartet Night, traveling the skies to spread good will with various do-good jobs and music performance. He’s notorious for taking on crewmembers who were on their bottom dollar before joining, and while he tends to not get the respect a captain should, his crew at least understands that they couldn’t have asked for a better leader. Despite being well-regarded in every corner of the sky he’s travelled, there’s still an evident sadness that chases him and an end goal it shrouds. Nobody can seem to find record of his skyfaring prior to the Quartet Night, and he runs his ship too well for it to be his first. Perhaps there *is* some substance to the rumors of the man with the battle maracas...no, that’s just too silly.

Once again, skills, design talk, and another sketch behind the cut! (Plus some Actual Ideas about his backstory instead of this dramatic fluff, lol.)

Type: Earth / Erune / Defense / Melee Charge Attack: Maracas Madness: Massive Earth damage to a foe. Gain Jammed. All allies except Reiji gain 1000-dmg Shield.

Skills: You can rely on me! (Please rely on me.) : Gain Substitute & Def Up. (3 turns / 5 turn cooldown) A Kiss and a Wink: Inflict Charmed on a foe. (3 turn cooldown) Doting Temptation: Gain Hostility Up. Effect increases sharply if allies’ HP is below 50%. Passive Skills: O Captain My Captain: Gain party-wide +10% Uplifted if Ranmaru, Ai, and Camus are all in the party. Waiting on a Friend: Gain massive ATK Up if all other allies are knocked out.

Reiji started out as a Draph (with big horns and cute cow ears!) but the dissonance between him and Granblue’s standard massive Draph build was just too much. Human or halfling didn’t feel quite right, either, and I was hesitant to also make him an Erune when Ranmaru’s also one...but once I gave him the floppy ears it really started to suit him!  He also didn’t look very captain-y until I gave him the tricorn (which has earholes, i promise), and from there the whole design changed around it. I’m pleased with the very piratey but still vaguely-in-charge look to him now, though absolutely the maracas holsters are my favorite part, lolllll.

As for his Actual Backstory? I’m not the type to stray toooooo far off of canon when it’s AU time, so it’s maybe not as dramatic as my description warrants, lol. Like the description suggests, Aine was once Reiji’s first mate (and bc I love Sad Reiji Bullshit, they were also def engaged) -- I imagine that they were the bread and butter of one anothers’ first crews and the joy they found in combining skyfaring with musical performance. Aine was starting to lose that joy, though, especially between him and Reiji not being super choosy with their clientele and wondering if they’re accomplices in some shady dealings...something like goods they transported being used in an invasion and the like. While the rumor mill has it that Aine died in a glorious battle or whatever, he really just disappeared without a word when the guilt reached its peak. Reiji’s forever guilting himself for not picking better jobs, being able to protect Aine from his feelings, etc., and he’s become SUPER conscientious and doting for it. He and Ranmaru mercilessly mom the whole ship in completely different ways, lol, and Reiji’s very particular about what odd jobs the QN takes on. They’re gonna do good, damn it, and NOBODY on the crew’s going to feel bad about the work they do!!

As for how the rumour mill got to where it was or Reiji’s true end goal? I’ll leave it up to y’all to ponder on that for now. >:) 

(“Battle maracas” was also shamelessly lifted from a Two Minutes to Late Night  opening bit, hahaha.)

#reiji kotobuki #kotobuki reiji #granblue fantasy #granbluexutapri #quartet night #utapri #uta no prince sama #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

THE END IS ME AND YOU WILL BEG : ranmaru as the future calamity playlist

[spotify link] 

rejoin dethklok  ten thousand against one unleash the archers  6.f.u lusus dozing green dir en grey  etiolation oceans of slumber  firepower judas priest  merciless cult dir en grey  laser cannon deth sentence dethklok  the trooper iron maiden  hellraiser motorhead  blue blood x japan kiss of death mutoid man  volcano (live best ver.) girugamesh  phoenix lights striker  painkiller judas priest  hail to the fire crystal lake  deceived mad pain girugamesh  shape of new world exocrine  freewheel burning judas priest  spilled milk dir en grey  could this be the end brendon small’s galaktikon 

A selection of metal and heavy rock burning with hellfire, apocalypse, and the conflict with justice. For those of us who wanna burn hot, get pumped, and get shit done before we all die for a week chasing tiers and this stupid evil bananaman. ❤

(art by illkickyourbass) 

#I needed a pump up playlist so I whipped this up! #the album art was a fun experiment too #ranmaru kurosaki #uta no metal sama: the continuing crusades LOL #have fun friends!!!!!! #don't forget to kick some productivity ass before the event hits!!! #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

Hey! Good to meet you! I’m Margaret, I’m an art director here at Shining Agency! I do things like oversee production of all the idols’ promo artwork, branding, and album covers, but I still don’t know why such a sparkly, poppy place hired a grungy band rat like me. Ha! Well, work is work, and I’ll be doing my best anyway. Look forward to it! (And if you want someone to revise a terrible contract, give me a call...I have my methods.)   

What better way to kick off this idol hell blog with @utanoprinces N card meme? I haven’t used the tumbles for a long while, but since all my other social media feels like an extension of work (and I’m about to boil over with stress), I really wanted to have a Fun Blog for idolblogging -- well, honestly, mostly Utapri blogging. (...Mostly Ranmaru blogging.) 

Anyways, hi, Utapri fandom, don’t mind me if you see a follow/reblog storm! Gotta fill up this blog, after all (and remember how to use Tumblr). 

#n card meme #illkickyourbassart

[illkickyourbass]

Teaching some kids the punk school of patchmaking tomorrow and decided to go full ham with the self-indulgence. 

Ranmaru, be proud.

#hurhur #i doubt shining agency lets him be the stinky scruffy diy hardcore idiot he used to be #traded battlejackets and sloppy drunk studding for crisp design and subtle tiddy out energy all the time #(seriously I just realized how much his SL outfits show off his decolette and cleavage LOL) #anyways............def going on my battlejacket #illkickyourbassart #might make more if the stencil survives????? #would any of y'all be interested???? #ranmaru #ranmaru kurosaki #uta no prince sama