Animating the Future: Marty Knox on Building Chardo Animation, AI, and the Rise of Creator Owned IP

In Episode 23 of The Exponential Show, host Mayank Singh speaks with Marty Knox, Founder and CEO of Chardo Animation, about the changing world of animation, the impact of AI on creative work, and why the next era of studios may look more like creator ecosystems than traditional production houses.

Marty’s story is part global career journey, part business reinvention, and part creative mission. From learning animation at the most hands-on level to running a 250-person studio in Thailand, Marty has seen the industry from nearly every angle. Now he is focused on building original IP and proving that animation can still be fun, bold, and culturally grounded, even in a world flooded with content.

From drummer to animator by accident

Marty did not set out to work in animation. He moved from a small town in British Columbia to Toronto at 18 with a different dream. He wanted to be a musician and played drums in rock bands. To pay bills, he worked in kitchens, a job he describes as exhausting and underpaid.

A chance connection changed everything. A friend’s partner was overworked on an animation project in 1995 and needed help. Marty took the opportunity immediately, eager to escape the kitchen. His first setup was as basic as it gets, working on an animation light table, photocopying art, cutting it out with scissors, and taping pieces together by hand.

That is where he discovered something important. Animation suited how his brain worked. It was a blend of structure and creativity, deadlines and chaos, problem solving and storytelling. He kept learning, gained responsibility quickly, and found himself drawn deeper into the craft.

A global career shaped by building studios

Marty’s animation path turned into a global journey. In 1999, he worked in Vietnam, his first experience in Asia. It reshaped his worldview completely. The culture, pace, etiquette, and everyday life challenged his assumptions and changed what he wanted from life. After that, returning to Canada felt limiting.

His career took him to multiple countries, including Berlin, Malaysia, and Ireland. Eventually, he landed in Thailand where he ran an animation studio for a Danish company, producing large-scale work including LEGO content. When he joined, the studio was around 40 people. Over the next decade, it grew to about 250, with an additional office opening in Mumbai.

That experience gave Marty a clear expertise. He was not only an animator. He was a studio builder. After years of growing businesses for others, he reached a point where he wanted full ownership over decisions, culture, and direction. He describes it as a different kind of stress. Running your own business is difficult, but at least you are building toward your own vision.

That became the starting point for Chardo Animation.

AI is changing the process, but the real shift is bigger than AI

Mayank and Marty explore how the industry has moved from light tables and hand-drawn frames to today’s AI tools such as Sora and Veo. Marty’s view is nuanced. He acknowledges the ethical concerns around AI, especially the way many systems have been trained by scraping creative work without consent. He also sees the creative frustration many artists feel when years of craft appear to be reduced to a prompt.

At the same time, he recognises the potential. AI can remove the repetitive, tedious parts of production, the “busy work” that consumes time but adds little creative value. In his mind, that is a real advantage if used responsibly.

But Marty believes the bigger disruption is not only AI. It is the entire content economy.

The world can now produce content faster than ever, but attention has not grown at the same pace. The result is too much content and not enough time to watch it. He points to the way music releases, streaming platforms, and short-form feeds have become overwhelming, reducing the sense of magic audiences once felt.

This creates a harsh reality. If everyone can make content, most of it will be mediocre. Only creators with a clear voice and strong storytelling instincts will stand out over time.

The decline of animation as a service

Marty describes an industry-wide shift that many viewers may not realise is happening. During the pandemic, streamers increased spending aggressively. Studios around the world scaled up to meet demand. Then the demand dropped sharply, in part because many series were not being watched at the volume platforms expected.

When the “tap turned off,” studios everywhere were left with large teams, high overhead, and not enough incoming work. This affected companies across Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond.

For smaller studios, the remaining demand has shifted toward shorter, faster, cheaper digital content, often for marketing, internal communications, and online campaigns. This is also exactly the type of work AI tools are becoming better at, which adds additional pressure to service-based production models.

The outcome is clear. The traditional animation services pipeline is shrinking, and studios that rely only on that model will struggle.

Why creator owned IP is the new leverage

Marty sees a more hopeful path emerging. In the past, large studios controlled distribution, funding, and exposure. Today, creators can build their own channels, audiences, and revenue streams. If they reach traction, they hold the leverage, not the platforms.

This is the core shift Marty is betting on with Chardo Animation. Instead of waiting for service work, he is focused on creating original IP and building a business around it.

He describes the future as creator-led entertainment ecosystems that include content, merchandise, licensing, and games. The biggest advantage is ownership. If a creator builds something that works, they keep the rights. If major platforms want it later, the negotiation starts from a position of strength.

Introducing Teewa the Fruit Doctor

One of Chardo Animation’s key IP projects is Teewa the Fruit Doctor, a YouTube-based animated series set in a fantasy version of Thailand.

Teewa is a young girl who acts as the “fruit doctor” of her village. She lives beside a magical forest filled with wild, strange fruits. By combining them, she solves unusual problems for villagers and protects the jungle. There is an environmental theme, but the main goal is entertainment.

Marty and his team intentionally designed the series to bring back the feeling of classic cartoon fun. Less preaching, more play. More chaos, more charm, more personality.

Originally, Teewa was pitched as a traditional high-budget 2D series with a standard TV structure. But the market response was blunt. Funders and platforms were not interested because kids are not consuming animation the way they once did. The intended distribution model did not match the new reality.

So the team pivoted. They simplified the design, reduced production complexity, made it non-dialogue to avoid voice production costs, and built it as an independent YouTube project that could be produced by a very small team.

The goal now is traction. Grow subscribers, build watch hours, and create a foundation strong enough to attract funding that allows the team to focus on output. Marty is clear that once the early momentum is proven, funding becomes easier, because the audience becomes evidence.

Animation is more popular than ever, but the audience has shifted

One of Marty’s most interesting observations is that animation has not become less popular. In many ways, it has become more popular. Recent years have seen multiple animated films cross major box-office milestones, and animated content on social platforms attracts enormous followings.

The difference is not popularity. It is the audience.

Marty believes a lot of today’s animation fandom is driven by older audiences, not kids. Adults who grew up loving animation still love it, and content is evolving to reflect more adult emotions, humour, and themes. He points to anime as a clear example, massive global popularity, and largely aimed at teens and adults.

This matters for creators because it changes how IP should be positioned. Even projects that look like children’s content may find their strongest audience among young adults who want nostalgia, identity, and story-driven fun.

Building in Thailand: why Marty stayed

Marty describes Thailand as a place that consistently surprises him with creative talent. He sees deep artistic roots in Thai culture, visible in design, temples, humour, and everyday storytelling.

He also challenges a common stereotype that working with Asian teams is difficult due to indirectness or communication barriers. In his experience, Thai creative teams are capable, honest, and highly collaborative. He considers Thailand a strong value market for quality and creativity.

At the same time, he notes that starting a business in Thailand as a foreigner is not easy. The systems and restrictions can create friction. Yet once established, he finds Thailand an excellent base for creative work and long-term living.

What is next for Marty and Chardo Animation

Marty’s focus is straightforward. Keep Teewa growing until it becomes self-funding, then expand into games, merchandise, and licensing. He also mentions a feature film project in development with partners, using a custom AI approach trained on owned materials rather than scraped work.

Long term, Marty wants to build more than a studio. He wants to build a community of creators in Thailand, people with ideas, stories, and characters who can build their own futures without waiting for permission from traditional gatekeepers.

As he puts it, clients hire him to make their dreams come true. The goal is to use that work to fund the projects that bring his own creative vision to life.