Following up on my post earlier this week (Days of the Dragon: 1982 Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Art Calendar), I have a 1981 Days of the Dragon calendar.
They are similar in format, and both are substantially different than the earlier 1980 calendar (photo at Tome of Treasures).
The 1981 calendar has no title on the cover, and only a notation on the back cover even indicates “Days of the Dragon” series. I reckon they wanted to preserve John Barnes’ excellent art, but they could have simply copied the piece to one of the months, as they did with Larry Elmore’s art the following year.
Darlene Pekul, a prolific early TSR artist (best known for her iconic Greyhawk maps), features heavily in this year’s calendar. Not just the color art pieces, but with many B&W sketches throughout. Also, the daily trivia notes are in the 1981 calendar.
Other artist names I recognize are Ken Rahman, Jim Roslof, Phil Foglio, and Dean Morrissey.
A 1981 calendar can be re-used in 2026 & 2037.
Days of the Dragon: 1981 Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Art Calendar
1980 … ISBN 0935696342
Calendars for sale in our online store
Calendars for sale in our online store
See Also:
Days of the Dragon: 1982 Dungeons & Dragons Fantasy Art Calendar
Reblogged this on DDOCentral.
Paul Stormberg mentioned to me that the Jim Roslof piece was slated to be used as artwork for the John Eric Holmes short story “The Sorcerer’s Jewel” in Dragon #46, and was repurposed for the calendar instead at some point.
Allan.
Very interesting! Thank you Allan.