About Us

The Ninjas of Animation.

We love Animation

403

Projects

230

Satisfied Clients

752

Espressos

Ninjas

At Essence Cartoon, we don’t just animate ideas — we turn them into undeniable success stories. For brands seeking to go viral, we create content engineered to maximize reach and views. For creators pitching investors, we build cinematic teasers and pitch decks that open doors and secure funding.

Over the past decade, we’ve partnered with clients from Walmart, NASCAR, and WWE to independent creators chasing their first big break. Our work has won film festivals, placed two animations on Amazon Prime, and even landed clients in front of notable figures like Terry Crews, with pitches too strong to ignore.

What truly sets us apart is our team of world-class talent:

Frame-by-frame animators have contributed to Unicorn Warriors Eternal (Adult Swim), Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, and The Boys.
Compositors have worked on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Milligan’s Island, and Hit Monkey.
Puppet animators bring experience from The Amazing World of Gumball, Solar Opposites (Seasons 3 & 4), Teen Titans Go! (Season 5), Care Bears: Unlock the Magic, Transformers: Rescue Bots, My Little Pony, Word Girl, Little Astro Boy, and The Last Kids on Earth.

As for the owner, Malachi Staples, he brings over a decade of creative leadership to the table. He served as the Art Director of Ownage Pranks, a YouTube channel with over 5 million subscribers, where he helped produce more than 100 viral videos that amassed over 1.3 billion views. Furthermore, Essence Cartoon has helped influencers across YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram achieve viral success. Highlights include a collaboration with Grizzy that reached 36 million views on YouTube, and producing the animated music video for Starset, which has surpassed 1.4 million views.

In addition to digital virality, Malachi has also led projects to critical acclaim on the festival circuit. His work has helped clients win awards at the Couch Film Festival, the India Kids Film Festival, and the Best Shorts competition. His projects have also been recognized as a semi-finalist at the New York Animation Film Awards and a finalist at the Couch Film Festival.

Beyond client work, Essence Cartoon is committed to building the next generation of talent. Since 2017, the studio has hosted an annual internship program, where students learn the entire animation process, from scriptwriting through to sound design. Each year, interns create complete projects that are showcased on our Instagram page, reflecting our belief in mentorship, education, and long-term industry growth.

Essence Cartoon is a creative powerhouse: a studio that blends artistry with strategy to deliver measurable results, ensuring every client’s idea achieves its full potential, from viral visibility to investor backing to industry awards.

Since 2015

Making History

2014

YouTube Channel

We started out as a comedy YouTube channel producing original content.

2015

COMPANY ESTABLISHMENT

After growing a Youtube channel to over 6K followers and 25K+ followers on Twitter, we were getting tons of requests for animated work. It was at this point, I decided to turn the brand we’d built on Youtube into an LLC.

2016

Our Achievements

This was the year we started signing with larger clients such as Tai Lopez, Whatnot Toys {Kitty Club and The Zomblings}. We won 3rd Place via a NewGrounds.com animation competition. Malachi Staples was also interviewed on Fox News in Oct of this same year.

2017

On the Rise

We work with a myriad of large companies in 2017 such as Anthem Blue Cross, Mercuri App, and Starset. We also did an animation workshop for students at Sol-Con and tabled at a comic fair for black and brown creators hosted by OSU College.

2018

Our Victories

Some of the biggest clients we had this year were Tokyo Jetz, the US Army, and the YouTuber Grizzy Gatta. The video we made for Grizzy has gained over 31 million views to date. We also created a remote internship program for students looking to learn animation. Malachi was also interviewed by Fox News a second time and appeared as a panelist at Cartoons Crossroads Columbus.

2019

Our Journey

This year we had the honor to work with AT&T, Nike, and the actor/comedian Aries Spears. One of our client’s animation, Abe’s Mu Adventure, was picked up by Amazon Prime. The same film was a finalist in Couch Film Festival and semifinalist in the New York Animation Film Awards.

2020

Our Achievement

As tough of a year as this was for everyone, we managed to find the silver lining. We completed one of our biggest and most ambitious Internships. We teamed up with an Instagram Comic influencer Corygiyolk and did an animation about the global pandemic. We also did a Sol-Con Animation Presentation (Link). We are now working on three cartoon series at the same time. The team has doubled in size and have worked on Tiktok animation as another skill in our studio’s tool belt.

2021

The Expansion

2021 was another excellent year for us. Our clients got their second animated short film, "iWish" placed on Amazon Prime and won 3 film festivals (CHINH India Kids, Best Shorts, and Couch Film Festival). We are excited to announce we have added a Tiktok Growth department to the studio. We have grown two accounts to 100K+ followers within a month this year and several tiktok clients by 10s of thousands of followers throughout 2021. Our top animation tiktok client video hit 7 million views and 1 million. Also, a non-animation client hit 12 million views on one video, and his follower count is now almost half a million followers. Going into 2022, we will be helping more clients grow on Tiktok. We have also joined forces with other studios to expand our studio's output of productions further. - Puppet Animation Studio - Tradigital Animation Studio - Background Art & Game Design Specializing Studio - Explainer Videos Studio - 3D and CGI Studio - Pitch Deck Master Specialist and Pitch Coach who was a former Network Executive and Animation Studio Owner as well With these new partners, EssenceCartoon is now in an even better place to help our clients reach their goals much quicker than ever before!

2022

3D Animation

"We completed a 3D animation project for a wine company now sold at Walmart nationwide and an animation project for the WWE. Additionally, one of our client productions, Casper, was accepted into the Am Docs film festival. Iwish (another client project), which won three film festival awards, was accepted into the Sydney Film Festival. We also started working with Universal Music Group (UMG) and also began work on the Cheeky Panda Series in the UK." We are excited to announce we have added a Tiktok Growth department to the studio. We have grown two accounts to 100K+ followers within a month this year and several tiktok clients by 10s of thousands of followers throughout 2021. Our top animation tiktok client video hit 7 million views and 1 million. Also, a non-animation client hit 12 million views on one video, and his follower count is now almost half a million followers. Going into 2022, we will be helping more clients grow on Tiktok. We have also joined forces with other studios to expand our studio's output of productions further. - Puppet Animation Studio - Tradigital Animation Studio - Background Art & Game Design Specializing Studio - Explainer Videos Studio - 3D and CGI Studio - Pitch Deck Master Specialist and Pitch Coach who was a former Network Executive and Animation Studio Owner as well With these new partners, EssenceCartoon is now in an even better place to help our clients reach their goals much quicker than ever before!

2023

Walmart & Nascar

In 2023, we worked on a variety of exciting projects across different industries. For Walmart, we produced a commercial for Earthgrown Wines, while for Nascar, we created a dynamic 3D billboard display. We animated the new Mr. C character for Xtramath and developed video game assets for the band Ice Nine Kills. Additionally, we created the video for Bon Jovi's "Christmas Isn't Christmas" and designed music visualizers for Jessie Reyez. For Universal Music Group, we produced a Christmas Holiday Branding Kit, and we also crafted album artwork for Sleazy World. Our work extended to testimonial videos for Frito Lays and the intro production for Nick Cannon’s Classic in Session series. It was a creatively fulfilling year with a wide range of impactful projects.

2024

A Year of Bold Storytelling

In 2024, EssenceCartoon delivered a diverse slate of high-impact animation projects across gaming, entertainment, Web3, and branded content. Highlights include animated content for Apex Legends, a cinematic teaser for the indie title Inner Eye, and a powerful pitch teaser for Minority Baseball Prospects, all showcasing our strength in narrative-driven animation. We created two original pitch teasers and brought stylized motion to Web3 through projects for Solana and the viral Landwolf meme coin. In music and entertainment, we animated horror-themed visuals for Ice Nine Kills and produced a bold promo for the identity-driven brand LookHuman. On the branded content side, we crafted engaging TikTok ads for Starz, Raw Dating App, and BetterMe Health, combining short-form storytelling with platform-native design. EssenceCartoon’s 2024 body of work reflects our ability to deliver cinematic, culturally relevant animation that connects with modern audiences.