"How To Train Your Dragon" - Trailer

Amazing Dragon Cake

Yes that is a cake! I could hardly believe it at first! I found this while searching Google images for some writing inspiration. It's AMAZING! This cake was created for a special D&D get together, followed by a meal of corn dogs and cheese sticks! What a feast!

I just couldnt imagine being the one to cut into this precious cake. I couldnt do it. I would want to flash freeze it and put it on display somewhere. Just look at the poor thing below. It would be heart breaking...I wonder if it had a heart!

You can view the entire Photo Stream on Flicker. Truly fantastic!

Featured Fantasy Creature: the Drog

Periodically I create a write-up on a fantasy creature that is featured in some of my short stories. This posts Featured Fantasy Creature: the Drog.

The name is derived from "frog" and "dragon" because of the wings amazing similiarity to that of a dragons. These awkward creatures are fun to watch fly through the forest and over grass fields. With their plump frog-like bodies and dragon-like wings, they soar through the air one short flight at a time.

Their leathery membrane wings can support them for only short distances, approximately three yards, and then they plummit to the ground, landing on all four legs with a thud. Their eyes protrude from the head slightly and are normally a shade of amber. There are two sets of eyelids that flicker open and shut every few seconds. With four sets of legs, the hind legs are approximately twice the size as the front legs to propel them off of the object they sit and into the air. The back two webbed extremities include five digits; the front two consist of four digits.

Their skin is sleak, smooth, and cool to the touch. The body and wings are of very similiar color with the wings being a slighly lighter shade of the body color. Common types include emeralds (green) and browns (brown). Uncommon types include silver (gray). Rare types include goldens (yellow). There may be undiscovered color variations at this time. Some Drogs have splotches or patches of varying colors upon their skin but are not a prominent feature. Few scholars believe this is a sort of camoflouge some are developing, while others believe these Drogs are impure and abominations of nature.

Upon sensing danger these creatures will merely stop moving all together in hopes that their perceived predator glances past them and moves on. Effective, at times, but this could be the very reason they are quite rare to come across in the wild since most of the time their predators win the encounter. I never claimed they were very smart.

Many have tried capturing these creatures with little success. Thus far those that have managed to do so end up no better in the end. Each captive Drog seems to rather die then move to eat, drink, or even procreate.

Most of the species are believed to be males; with a belief that the golden Drogs are the females. Mating has never been witnessed, but most likely it takes place in the privacy of thick forests and other areas with dense vegitation and coverage.

All artwork in this post copyright Ursula Vernon.

"Dragon Girl"

A child's imagination is an amazing thing. I love dragons, and my 2 year old daughter, almost 3, does too! I occassionally call her my "Dragon Girl" and she will even growl and breathe fire at me occassionally! I haven't taught her that dragon's breathe fire so I'm not exactly sure where she got that from but it is funny to watch her face as she produces the "flame".

She loves dragons on a whole new level though. In our son's room, which used to be the office and my wife's craft room, there are numerous dragon statues ranging in size from 10"-18" tall and quite impressive in my opinion. Anyway, one day Dragon Girl was in the room with us while we were putting our son to sleep for the night. All of a sudden she started making a throwing motion towards the dragons which are on a high shelf. I asked her what she was doing and she said quite matter of fact "Feeding the dragons daddy". And boy was she feeding the dragons.

Apparently they enjoyed it as much as she did! Soon Dragon Girl was telling me to sit on the dragon so we could fly through the house together. "Like this daddy!" she commanded. It was pretty hilarious, all I could do was smile and well...get on the dragon with her! It was a fantastic ride through the hallway...I was only corrected once on how to ride the dragon. After the trip through the hallway and into the dining room and back, the dragon flew back to his perch on the top shelf; tired and well fed.

Quite an amazing journey and an amazing daughter indeed.

Keith Parkinson - "Master of Fantasy Art"

I figured for my first blog post I would write a tribute to one of my favorite fantasy artists, Keith Parkinson. The man touched many lives and will be remembered in the hearts and minds of past and future generations.

From fantasy series such as Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms to authors such as Terry Goodkind and Margaret Weis; Keith Parkinson's book covers have captured the imaginations of millions and set new standards for the fantasy and science fiction genre.

Left you will see "North Watch". This was the first painting that introduced me to Keith Parkinson and I still adore it to this day. "North Watch" was the first painting I had to have in my dragon collection. It's really what invigorated my love for dragons. To this day I still do not have a print or giclee, and I just ran across the re-opened Keith Parkinson website and they are available! It's too bad I have no where to place such a fine piece of artwork.

Keith truly knew how to paint both in-depth landscapes and yet minimal landscapes at the same time. The original landscape and character painting Keith did for the MMORPG Everquest was the second painting I fell in love with. This one I do own but sadly it sits propped against a wall in its all too expensive frame and matting. There were 3 total in the Everquest series, one for each expansion up to that point ("Scars of Velious", "Planes of Power", and "Shadows of Luclin").

Left you will see "Druid Stone", one of Keith's paintings he did for the shear joy of painting...and it shows. This is an excellent testament to what a great artist can do with just a love for the genre. "He (Keith) wasn’t just a painter; he was a true artist, who found layers of depth in everything he did, who breathed life into canvas and emotions into paint." (R.A. Salvatore).

Here you will find Wizards of the Coasts' tribute to Keith Parkinson with quite a few farewell statements and sentiments about his artwork, the great person he was, and the great friendships and lasting impressions he made.

Thank you Donna, Mary, Nicolas and Zachary for sharing Keith with us. Your insight into our beloved fantasy worlds will never be forgotten Keith. You will be missed!
*All images in this post copyright Keith Parkinson.