What is AniToku?

Anitoku is your Hub and Hotspot for Truly Independent Art and Animation!

It's more important now more than ever before to cultivate and support 100% independent artists and animators alike. I believe artists around the world should lock in and support each other to create thriving art communities unlike ever before.

We’re building a global community dedicated to showcasing original art, indie animation, and creative storytelling. Whether you draw, paint, animate, or design, Anitoku helps artists share their work, build visibility, and grow beyond social media.

Artists have been gifted with the invaluable ability to create and bring to life things which only first existed in one's imagination. We should not be restrained by the limits of social media platforms or shut out by industrial gatekeepers. We deserve to have our work celebrated and to have the chance to earn a living with our art without being taxed and shadow banned by mega media corporations. 

Animation + Toku = AniToku

As a child of animation (and anime) I wanted to come up with a unique name, one where if you go search for it the only results you will find are that. So, I took part of my ten letter Nigerian first name and coupled it with part of the word animation. The union of these two words I believe is special as well and tells a lot about the goals and purpose of our site.

The "anima" in animation tells of the natural and spiritual energy that gives life to everything in the universe. Similarly, we do the same thing as animators, movers of drawings and images as we pour our own spiritual energy and will into otherwise inanimate objects such as pen paper and screen to create amazing works of passion and wisdom. Animation is the original goal and desire of my child self, and something I will continue to cultivate and master for the rest of my life. Anitoku and my original anime GAMINAMI are an extension of that desire.

We can share our art on social media, why would I create a website?

I genuinely do not know. Honestly, I initially created Anitoku as a place to sell my first zine/artbook DIZZY! Sketch Collections, post my own art separately from social media and also a special hub for my original animated series GAMINAMI. I might be in the minority, but I don't like posting on social media as much, it's a like a separate job trying to cultivate an audience by appeasing the algorithm. Also, it seems like artists don't get as much recognition on platforms like TikTok and IG. It's not impossible to gain recognition and substantial amount views on your work, it's just a bit skewed for artists.

Nevertheless, I believe as artists we should be seeking ways to cultivate our audience and fanbase outside of social media. We shouldn't get rid our social media accounts. They are still highly beneficial for what they provide: a large number of potential viewers to your content. However, there is a huge chunk of traffic many artists fail to take advantage of: "Google!" Google boasts 5 billion active users with 16.4 billion daily searches compared to TikTok's 82 million daily and 1.59 billion monthly active users which actually ranks number 1 amongst social apps.

Admittedly, although we give TikTok sh**, so far it has been the best social media for artists. Some views and link clicks are better than none. Despite this, there's no reason we shouldn't utilize the immense amount traffic that Google provides. That can only be done with a website, not a social media profile (unless it's YouTube of course).

Who is Anitoku for?

Anitoku is for artists, animators and creators alike. As I got more involved with posting, creating content and interacting with the many different artists on TikTok and IG, I started buying so much art, merch and other types of products created by them. I thought, I need to start showing people and sharing them on my site as well. Even though at first not many people visited my site, I still thought it would be a great idea to share my friend's art, not just mines.

How to use Anitoku

Anitoku is still in its very early stages of development, however if you would like to contribute your art, or have a project or product you want promoted, don't hesitate to submit to our Gallery!

Our goal at Anitoku is to utilize untapped avenues of internet traffic to promote artists and creators across the innanet. We would be honored to host art from artists alike.

Can you make money from Anitoku?

No, we are not in the business of giving away money, but we do enjoy finding ways to see that artists get paid for their work, even if that means doing it ourselves. In our Monthly Art Contests, we give up to $100 in cash prizes to talented artists who win the first, second and third placements after voting. The winners will have their piece pinned on every winning section of Anitoku, but the first-place winner will have theirs pinned on the homepage as well.

Additionally, although we don't outright pay artists, we are constantly experimenting and looking for ways to become financially self-sufficient as an art website and sharing our results with fellow artists. Check out our various blog posts that detail different ways artists can generate income by utilizing their own creations. For example, in How to Sell Sketches Online: Turn Old Art into New Income, we detail how to repurpose your old sketch books and sketch dumps to compile them into your first sellable art product: a zine artbook!

What is the future of Anitoku?

Our original goals are our top priority: share our art and share our friend's art and anyone else who wants to join along the way. We're still evolving the site and learning how to best navigate the world of domains and SEO. Do we need to create an app? Ehh, not sure. Are websites obsolete? I honestly don't know the answer to that, but I can tell you that even TikTok and Instagram have websites and domain names. So, I think we're on the right path.

Of course, we are going to continue hosting monthly art contests with cash prizes; however, we have been throwing around the idea of hosting animation contests at the start of the new year!

Should other artists and animators ditch social media and create websites too?

No, absolutely not! I still use TikTok, IG, Meta and the rest because they are some of the biggest sources of internet traffic. By owning my own domain name, I'm also able to gain visibility and traffic from Googles vast userbase. You don't have to quit social media completely cold turkey; however, I would encourage artists to look for alternative avenues for gaining attention to your work.

Ultimately, I think it should be our goal to be able to exist as a creator outside of the confines of the current social media landscape. Most importantly, as an artist the share button is our greatest asset on the internet not the like button, so make sure to share the art and creations of your friends and fellow artists.