Emmy winner is making a Las Vegas kid a YouTube star

The redheaded kid known as Artie is about to draw his favorite animal, a monkey. A funny monkey, specifically.

But before the freckled-faced figure puts his markers to paper, a voice calls from beyond.

“He started from scratch, to do his part! He’s gonna get creative, and make some art!”

Those are the hip-hop stylings of Artie’s buddy Mikey Marker. Mikey’s kinda gangsta, with a blue body and yellow ball cap pulled to the side. He’s next to Betty Brush, wearing fancy pearls with high-rising red hair matching her crimson earrings and body.

You might have figured out these are not real people. They are puppets, the cast of the YouTube series “Artie’s Show.”

A tight-knit bunch

The fun-for-the-entire-family project launched in March. The series is the brainchild of Andy Walmsley, Emmy Award-winning set designer and Las Vegas resident; his wife, former Wynn Las Vegas massage therapist Amy Walmsley; YouTube wizard Seth Leach; Vegas comic magician Mark Bennick; and master puppet designer Derek Lux. Leach’s partner, Megan Wynn, edits all of the episodes for this tight-knit team.

The folks behind the show have diverse backgrounds but share in their personalities and, yes, childlike charisma.

Andy Walmsley has had a fascination with puppets since falling for the Muppets when he was a kid. He went on to design “The Muppet Show Live” at the Hollywood Bowl seven years ago.

Spend a few minutes with Amy and you can see how her effervescent personality can transfer to a kids’ show — she voices Betty and Bunny.

Bennick’s magic act and stage show can play to all ages. He has a young son, Ashton, fascinated by puppets and an inspiration for the “Artie’s Show” concept.

Leach is familiar with the family-friendly realm, having developed comic magician Murray Sawchuck’s hit YouTube channel.

Lux’s puppet creations, especially those in “Artie’s Show,” draw in all ages. As a performer, Lux is a former cast member in the famed “Beach Blanket Babylon” production in San Francisco, and he produced the family show “Alison Wonderland” at Alexis Park.

He likes to draw

The “Artie’s Show” premise is a simple comedic, art tutorial. Artie is a little boy whose passion is to draw and paint. He and the viewers follow the direction of a narrator, voiced by Andy Walmsley, whose hands are shown creating the art pieces.

The series carries an educational theme, as we learn about Artie’s artistic subjects. Each approximately 10-minute episode focuses on one drawing or painting. Longer episodes delve into themes such as food, animals and nature. Upcoming holiday-themed shows are dedicated to subjects such as Santa, a Christmas tree and a menorah.

The mission of “Artie’s Show” is to provide kids a safe place to spend time, learn and create. They can grow their vocabulary and develop motor skills while learning to color and draw.

Artie’s friends are voiced by the series’ creators, fun to hang with whether you’re drawing or not. There is a dance break (disco ball in the background to set the groove vibe), and a joke break (Why can’t your hand be 12 inches long? ’Cause then it’d be a foot!)

Bunny Fluffington is a happy rabbit who also loves to create. Betty Brush is an experienced, sable paintbrush (she’s clearly made her way around the art scene). Mikey Marker is a silly pen and sometimes assistant. Louie, his hair streaked with gray, is a retired ballroom dance coach. Barry Tone is the show’s singing dog, and Chuckles Monkey the aspiring comedian-magician-juggler. If Vegas needs just one more comic-magician-juggler, Chuckles is the guy.

A bigger Artie experience

The Walmsleys have been inspired, and fascinated, by the success of children’s entertainer Stevin John’s Blippi character. The adult but timeless portrayal started a decade ago as a YouTube sensation. Blippi soon blossomed into a worldwide phenomenon. In 2021, John sold the empire to Britain’s Moonbug Entertainment (funded by a pair of former Disney execs) for $3.1 billion.

Kids, that’s a lotta dough.

The Walmsleys began development of “Artie’s Show” during the COVID shutdown, when many stage performers turned to social media to perform and reach audiences.

“We saw people doing very well with these shows, and we were following along,” Andy Walmsley says. “We saw something that could exist outside of whatever current events are going on.”

Amy Walmsley says, “You can watch an episode from two months ago, or two years from now.”

“Artie’s Show” is filmed primarily in the Walmsleys’ home studio, with occasional remote locales such as Discovery Children’s Museum.

Artie’s numbers are promising.

The show achieved 10,000 subscribers in four months (it usually takes a new project a year or longer to amass that total). It was invited to the coveted YouTube Kids channel within five months. It became “monetized” in six months (which usually takes up to two years, if at all). The show has grown to 2.4 million views and should hit 100,000 subscribers by the end of the year.

The team will receive a coveted YouTube Silver Button plaque when that happens.

Artie 2.0

For Andy Walmsley, who won an Emmy for his set design of “American Idol,” there is always a higher achievement. His dream is to grow the Artie experience out of the house, into its own studio, and create a set that looks like the old “Fame” performing arts school.

Except with puppets.

“Each of these characters, and we’ll be introducing more characters, will all have a certain field that they want to focus on,” Walmsley says. “There’ll be the dancing puppet. We’ll have the monkey with the comedy, magic and juggling. We’ll have Barry, who’s vocal. We’ll have another one who wants to be an actor, and so forth.”

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.