Legacy Connections

Legacy Connections L

Animation entrepreneurs Jason (BID, BAD 1997) and Michael (BID 1999) Carpenter believe the College ofDesign is the “greatest place ever,” and the two brothers credit the college for giving their careers a successful start.

“The College ofDesign is perhaps my favorite place on Earth. Everything I am able to do today in my career, and as a designer, I owe to my wonderful teachers and fellow students from the College of Design,” says Jason. The reality oftheir combined strengths hit home while in graduate school. “It was great traction with employers to be a brothers pair,” says Michael. “Companies seem to like hiring siblings or close-knit teams who appear to share a brain. Together you are worth more than the sum ofyour parts.” Directing animation projects, from TV commercials to major theme park attractions (like Spaceship Earth at Epcot Center—an interactive ride experience about the future oftechnology), their company, Carpenter Brothers Animation (http://carpenterbrosanimation.com), is a success. The last few years they have worked closely with Big Buddha Baba (http://www.bigbuddhababa.com/) to create projects for Walt Disney Imagineering. “It has been a thrill to take part in Imagineering’s creative process and to see how they blaze a path with new technology.” The Carpenter brothers are originally from Greensboro, N.C., and now reside in the Santa Monica/Los Angeles area ofCalifornia. Their interest in NC State began when Jason enrolled in the residential Design Camp while still at Grimsley High School. “Design camp opened my eyes to a whole different world,” he says.

Top, left: Jason and Michael Carpenter. Bottom, left: Michael left, Jason right, on a childhood trip to Disney World. Bottom, right: Still from a short film in production.

Jason’s love ofart and newfound desire to become a designer led him to NC State to study industrial design and art + design. Michael, who followed his brother into the industrial design program, says “the unbridled sense of optimism and can-do attitude in N.C., and specifically at the College ofDesign, leads you to having no question if you can do something or not… you simply do it.” “One thing we have seen that sets NC State apart from other schools is the emphasis given to creative problem solving from day one. Some ofour colleagues have attended fine schools and possess excellent technical skills, but they don’t tend to face design problems in the same way,” emphasizes Michael ofhis design school experience. “We learned to think differently and to think around the problem. Learning to brainstorm about brainstorming and to take a step back to see a number ofways to approach a design problem before trying to solve it. This approach has stayed with us in all that we do!” he adds. Michael describes professor Bryan Laffitte as “a magician with the way he draws. Bryan set a great example for his students and made us all want to be more like him.” One ofhis projects with Laffitte helped Michael Carpenter narrow down his career aspirations. Recalling with delight one project near Halloween where Laffitte encouraged his studio to create costumes for the BASH, Michael said, “I created a commando chicken and once I did that—there was no going back for me. I knew I wanted to work with and create characters.” Top: Still from a second short film in production. Above: Still from a commercial for Asics shoes.

Jason relays his memory offlat-out refusing to use a computer during his first three years ofdesign school. “Chandra Cox still teases me about how she had to beg me to use a drawing tablet and how that led me to take Pat FitzGerald’s animation class which ultimately started my career path.” Being an animator these days is almost all digital, he explains. The hub ofanimation is in California, so they decided to study, work and live there. The brothers went to graduate school at the California Institute ofthe Arts (Cal Arts) to earn MFAs. While in school the Carpenters were also earning credibility in the animation world. Between them, their in school credits included an animated segment for Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show, a short film for Sesame Street, the identitycampaign for WB kids and work on Cartoon Network’s Aquateen Hunger Force. “The reel from these projects landed us the Epcot Center Spaceship Earth job,” adds Jason. Six months out of the Cal Arts program, the brothers were directors. For the duo, presenting themselves as a team has helped them exponentially in animation projects. “We fill in each other’s gaps,” says Jason. “We still get to play in the sandbox together like when we were kids,” adds Michael. Top: Still from the WB Kids identity campaign. Above: Still from Sesame Street's What Did Hungry Pete Eat? Still from Drew Carey's Green Screen Show.