Phil Tippett’s Handwritten Vermithrax Pejorative dragon walking animation notes and to-do lists from Matthew Robbins and Hal Barwood’s fantasy film Dragonslayer. The young apprentice, Galen, was sent to slay the terrifying dragon Vermithrax Pejorative. Phil Tippett is credited as a Dragon Supervisor on the ILM visual effects team that worked on the film. He worked extensively on the go-motion animation of Vermithrax Pejorative as well as supervising the color of the dragon puppets of all sizes. During production, ILM developed a new technique in stop-motion animation now widely known as go-motion. This technique introduced motion blur making the movement of creatures less jerky and much more realistic. The combination of this new technology, extravagant large-scale puppets and a beloved design led to Vermithrax Pejorative being considered one of the best, if not the best, dragons of all time.Tippett was nominated for Best Visual Effects for his work on this film at the 54th Academy Awards^®.

This set of notes includes four pages of handwritten pencil notes on dragon walking movement on yellow legal paper, a two page handwritten to do list in pencil including motion control tests and questions on yellow legal paper, a handwritten pencil list of things needed to improve the stop-motion workflow on yellow legal paper, such as, ‘THE STEPS SEEM TO BE ONE CONTINUOUS ACTION.’ The two to-do lists handwritten in pencil on white paper have several tasks revolving around Dave Carson’s work on finishing the color for the full-scale Vermithrax Pejorative puppet pieces. It should also be noted that the notes referring to motion control tests refer to the early stages of the development of go-motion.

The pages all show slight folds and tears along their edges and corners leaving the lot in overall fair condition. Dimensions (largest):14” x 8 ¾” (35.5 cm x 22.25 cm); dimensions (smallest):11 ¾” x 8 ¼” (30 cm x 21 cm)