#deadlydragons

[davidstanleytravel]

The Deadly Dragons which hang from the ceiling of the Atrium at the Ulster Museum in Belfast, Northern Ireland, were created by basket maker Bob Johnston.

[thefellowshipofthedragonmark]

Okay so as you may or may not know, I've been away to Norwich this weekend because of my brother's university application, and while he went to look at the uni, I went shopping and wandering around the city. It was all going well (I found a book all about dragon art whoo) and then we were trying to decide whether to go to the castle. In the end we figured we still had a lot of time to kill and they have all these art galleries and things, so we walked along this street towards the castle.

And then.

I saw.

An advert.

FOR. A. HOW. TO. TRAIN. YOUR. DRAGON. EXHIBITION.

And of course that settled the question of whether to visit or not and OH MY GOOD THOR, it was AMAZING.

They had loads of original artwork for the books, some of it unpublished, with all of Cressida's notes and everything. They had her "ideas book" and her school workbooks with stories from when she was eleven. They had concept art including WHAT TOOTHLESS ORIGINALLY LOOKED LIKE, and a group of REALLY ADORABLE VIKING CHILDREN who never appeared, and original pages of the first drafts, and maps, and loads of other unseen planning. They had dressing up (which I took part in and have NO. REGRETS.) and they had the Great Hall and Viking ships and a wall filled with dragons. They had interactive bits and huge prints of characters with snippets of David Tennant's audiobooks. They had a section on the movie, including a page of the original "This is Berk" score with a signed message from John Powell to Cressida, and art by one of the DreamWorks artists showing how it might be if book! and movie!Hiccup met. They had information everywhere, and art, and SERIOUSLY THIS ISN'T HALF OF IT IT WAS A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

And they also had a mobile library outside with dragons everywhere and I ENTERED A PRIZE DRAW WHERE IT'S POSSIBLE TO WIN AN ORIGINAL SIGNED ILLUSTRATION.

And in the gift shop they had a stand filled with HTTYD stuff and I finally bought The Art of How to Train Your Dragon.

And just for y'all to know that I'm jealous too, my mum overheard people saying that at the university my brother was looking at, the drama students were going to be ACTING OUT PARTS OF THE BOOKS.

And seriously guys, I HAD NO IDEA THAT THIS WAS ON, AND I COULD HAVE MISSED IT COMPLETELY AND WALKED ON PAST A FEW HUNDRED METRES AWAY.

As it is, it's on until May, so if any of you out there might possibly have a chance to go see it, GO.

But oh my lord, it was amazing.