It all started in the school notebooks of the boy who never left a single page blank. Influenced by classic Disney feature films and the animated series that filled children’s TV shows in the 1980s, Tomaz “TOZ” Viana created and drew daily heroes, heroines, villains, and imaginary monsters of all kinds.

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At the end of the 1990s, while studying design in college, Tomaz joined some friends to form FleshbeckCrew, one of the first graffiti groups in Rio de Janeiro. Armed with pens, spray cans, and a lot of attitude, they used the city walls to present their ideas, lines, and colors.

That’s when the signature “TOZ” was born, along with some of his most well-known characters. Spread across walls, overpasses, electrical boxes, and garage doors in the city, Nina, Shimu, and Bebê Idoso quickly won the hearts of locals and fans all over Brazil.

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“TOZ” expanded his horizons and brought his creations to canvases, sculptures, and installations in galleries and cultural spaces in Brazil and around the world.

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Now, Nina, Shimu, Bebê Idoso, Julius, Hermes, and Charmin gain new contours, movements, and narratives created for digital and vertical screens. With identity elements from contemporary teenagers and references from the graffiti universe, the work is being launched worldwide on the digital platforms TikTok @ninashimu and Instagram @ninaeshimu.

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The content is fun and chaotic. On the screens appear short films, memes, (de)motivational quotes, react videos, animation loops, and whatever else creativity allows.

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“Nina & Shimu” is a project by Oven Entertainment, a startup accelerator of intellectual properties that chose the creative and charismatic universe of artist “TOZ” as its launch platform. The animations are produced by the talented team at Telha Company, a Rio-based animation studio. Communication is handled by Grupo Sal.