During the site’s early years, the community on Twitch was a niche for gamers to broadcast plays real time for users on the site to watch or interact with fellow site members. However, the users on this popular online streaming platform are growing and becoming more diverse, which led to the development of streams that are outside of the usual gaming platform. Twitch now welcomes members or streamers from different categories such as music, talk shows, and art.
Growing Your Community with Twitch Creative
As mentioned, there are more communities growing within the site, one of which is the creative community. Artists have started using the site to streamline their artwork and development process, interact with other artists and join challenges. To cater to this network of aspiring artists and professionals, Twitch Creative was introduced. The service became a way for members to freely share, experiment, learn, and become more innovative with ideas in interacting with the community on Twitch.
What to Expect on Twitch Creative
One of the new test runs on Creative is using votes on the Food Channel. This enables audiences to discover new streamers and content that are of their interest.
Navigating around the Creative Directory will also be fun and easy with the introduction of more communities. Here, members can find new streamers that specialize in their creative interests such as painting, cosplay, sculpting, animation, comic design, and more. Users can also suggest new categories that suit their interest and ultimately expand the creative community on Twitch.
Another great project of the Twitch Creative service is the invention of the new Spotlight feature. Currently, this feature is tested on music, cosplay, game development, and the painting community on Twitch. The way these features work is that members would vote on their favorite streamers through emoticons. The channel that receives the most votes will be awarded by being featured in the Spotlight for an amount of time.
Partnering with ArtStation
Twitch Creative also announced a partnership with ArtStation, which is one of the leading portfolio sites for upcoming artists and designers. This allows streamers and its members to reach out to a wider demographic. Users can easily achieve this by linking their Twitch and ArtStation accounts and stream on the #ArtStation Community. Doing so will help their channel appear on the ArtStation homepage.
Tips to Expand Your Creative Community on Twitch
Besides utilizing Twitch Creative, there are many other important factors that streamers will need to consider in order to expand their community on Twitch.
1. Interacting with your Audience
One of the most helpful ways to successfully build your own community on Twitch is by knowing how to interact with the audience. One of the first challenges when it comes to live streaming in the art community is working on a piece while having to entertain an audience. Finishing up a project while interacting with a live audience may be difficult on the first go; however, this skill will come naturally in the long run. All it takes is practice and a healthy amount of streaming to get used to such a task. It is important to remember that not everyone gets it perfect on the first try, similar to how every artist got started in drawing or other forms of art.
2. Choosing Your Content
Although artists are given the freedom to create any piece or design of their choice, it also pays to listen to one’s audience and ask about their expectations or requests for the next broadcast. This can be accomplished through polls or by asking them to leave comments during the streaming period. This will only not build a bond between the streamer and the audience but also ensures audience attendance on the next broadcast.
Another helpful tip when it comes to streaming in the art community on Twitch is to develop the pace wherein you have your audience’s attention during the stream up until you are able to finish your work. However, it can’t be avoided that you will lose some of your audience during a stream due to the time difference and other causes. If such cases would arise, providing video recordings of your stream will greatly help your viewers.
3. Collaborating with Other Artists
Bringing in other artists for the stream can prove to be fruitful in terms of gathering a bigger audience. Having some variety in your streams such as inviting a guest to collaborate on an art piece can draw in the viewer’s interest, especially if such guest has a following already of their own.
4. Standing Out from Other Streamers
Every artist has their own signature style when making a project or finishing up a commission. They also have their own specialties and techniques to pass on to the community on Twitch. One can easily stand out just by making sure the stream is interesting and unique while actively engaging with the viewers.
At the end of everything, it all boils down to the streamer having fun. According to professional artist Ashley A. Adams, there will always be an audience for everyone. Thus, it’s important to first enjoy the art of streaming, and the rest will follow.
