The Art of Murder Pilot! Indie Animation
Cartoons!
I recently came across a new indie animated pilot episode on YouTube that released only a week ago: The Art of Murder. It’s a murder mystery musical about a girl and her sketchbook. The catch? Her drawings come to life after midnight.
Our main cast is the girl—Pip’s—fanart. A princess, an American-style cartoon character, an anime ninja (very similar to a Naruto character), and a dating-sim game detective. Together they hang out and admire Pip’s growing art skills, until one day, there’s a new character! But this character isn’t from a show or game, it’s original!
Showing the new OC the ropes through song and dance, you get a sense of this cheesy yet very clever show. By the near end of this pilot, tragedy strikes! There’s been a sketchbook murder.
With many pop culture references throughout, this pilot was super fun and reminded me of my own childhood, drawing fanart and characters. I hope to see an episode 2 come at some point in the future!
The characters are well voiced, (including the talents of Lizzie Freeman, Joey Richter, Lauren Lopez, Megan Lee, and Joey Bizinger) and the animation is good quality. The animation studio—Choc Chip Animation Studio also has a patreon and a merch store selling keychains and acrylic standees for the characters!
I encourage y’all to give it a watch! For younger viewers, the only caution is some language.
I’m excited to cover more indie animated series in this newsletter! Thanks for reading!