Gentle reader, if you are of a delicate disposition… if you have any affection for the Dragonriders of Pern and don’t want it Ruined Forever, then I entreat you in the sternest possible way to not read beyond the jump. (While the following content is only NSFW in the mildest possible sense, it is poison to the brain.)

Some background, first, about the panel format. Each artist or team is issued a flip-chart and a selection of colored markers. An individual (either a participant or the moderator) is chosen to select a topic. The audience is prompted to shout topics, until the person doing the selection hears one he or she likes. The teams then have eight minutes to complete a picture based on the selected topic. A winner is chosen (by applause) from each round.  The person who suggested the topic receives the pictures.

While the drawing is in progress, audience heckling is mandatory.

Some of the topics this year included:

• Cthulhu eating pizza
• The Pink Panther on an acid trip
• Inappropriate superheroes (see Mr. Whitmore’s entry  for this round, via his Flickr feed)

Now, yr. humble narrator does like dragons. And, being a Rice alumnus, I’m fond of making fun of Texas A&M. The convention’s writer GoH was Todd McCaffrey (and the “ghost GoH”, Anne). And, it’s also possible I may have had a few adult beverages by that point in the evening’s proceedings. None of that excuses anything, but it may help explain what strange mental processes led me to shout “Dragonriders of College Station” at topic selection time.

It will remain forever a mystery to me why anybody else thought that was a good idea.

This is a thing that happened. (Art by J. Grant and Mel Hynes; image appears here with their kind permission.) Click thumbnail image for a larger version, should you want one.

This is another thing that also happened. (Art by Martin Whitmore; image appears here with his kind permission.) Once again, the thumbnail image is a link to a larger version.

My sincere thanks to the artists for the gift of their work, for putting up with my shenanigans, for being such good sports about the whole thing, and for agreeing (in the terrible, sober light of the following morning) to me posting it here.

(Oh, and by the way, despite threats to the contrary, I didn’t actually ask Todd to sign these. I don’t know him well enough to be sure he’d think it was funny, and he’s a nice guy whose feelings I’d hate to hurt. Remember what John Scalzi said about the failure mode of clever?)

Neil is the one on the left.

Happy Year of the Dragon to all. Neil Gaiman drew you a picture (click thumbnail to the right for a better view, or read about it on his blog).

If you hatch this year, you’re a Black Water Dragon — very auspicious indeed.

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We would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling hatchlings.

If this is yours, contact me by email. I’ll be back in town, and I’d very much like to buy you a pint of the local for your efforts.

Just look at it.

From Japanese artist Y Yamaden,via Laughing Squid by way of Fark.