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Whether you’re a fine art student or spend hours creating high fantasy digital art, there’s a supportive community of art streamers and art fans waiting for you online. That’s why learning how to live stream digital art and traditional art can offer several benefits, no matter your skill level or experience.
It can be tough to advertise your work as an artist. Live stream painting and drawing is a great way to reach a wider audience and grow your following. There are longstanding communities of artists and fans on streaming platforms who love watching the creative process, including the accidents and mistakes. By joining art streaming spaces, you attract people who are already interested in art and might be more motivated to commission work.
Live streaming helps you to connect and learn from artists from all around the world with different backgrounds, skills and approaches. Some art streamers have also found that live streaming helps motivate them. Chatting to viewers can help an artist talk through a problem and get past creative blocks.
An art live stream does more than broadcast your work. Many streaming platforms have monetization options that you can take advantage of once you grow your viewership. You can also earn income from donations, subscriptions, and partnerships with sponsors. Successful art streamers get sent tools and products to boost a brand’s word-of-mouth marketing.
If you’re ready to get started, here’s how to live stream traditional art, digital drawing and any other kind of creative project you’re working on:
You don’t have to stick to a single medium, but the kind of art you’re doing will impact your setup. You’ll have to figure out how to frame your camera (or cameras) to capture all the important details or your work. For example, if you want to live stream drawing on paper, you should position the camera to look down on a birds eye view of your complete work station.
You can start with your phone camera and decide if you want to invest in something more expensive later. Always use a tripod to make sure your video feed doesn’t shake, and always use good lighting. If you don’t have good natural lighting, there are inexpensive lighting options on Amazon and other e-commerce sites with adjustable brightness and color.
You will also need a microphone to capture audio as you talk about your work, interact with viewers and answer their questions. (You can also find royalty-free music on Spotify and YouTube that you can play in the background while you stream.)
Before jumping into streaming, it’s good to build a network in the online art community. Talk to other art streamers, get to know people, and make friends. This means you’ll have space to learn about the platform’s dos and don’ts, and prepare before your first stream.
Decide on a realistic schedule and promote it beforehand on social media platforms so your viewers know when to tune in. You don’t have to live stream every day. Just be consistent and you’re sure to build viewership!
There are several live streaming platforms to choose from. Twitch has its own vibrant art subcategory, and there are several art streamers live on YouTube. You can also stream on platforms designed for creatives, including Behance and Picarto.
You can stream to multiple platforms at once by using streaming software. OBS Studio is one of the most commonly used ones because it’s compatible with all operating systems and free to use, but there are several other options, including vMix, XSplit, and Ecamm Live.
You’ll need at least 8G of RAM to use streaming software. However, if you live stream digital art, you’re going to need a lot more processing power. Digital drawing tools can have very high CPU load.
The upside of digital art is that you can easily add sources to your streaming software as display capture or screen capture. You can also stream directly from your iPad by using software to mirror your work onto one of your monitors.
Overlays and stream graphics don’t just add appeal to your live stream. They deliver key information to your viewers, solidify your visual branding, and make your art live stream more exciting. Luckily, overlays.uno has a wide range of overlays that you can customize and use for free!
For example, use one of our countdown overlays to allow viewers time to join and settle in before you start streaming. Launch and reset your countdown by using our online overlay interface, or simply transition between different scenes on OBS Studio.
Overlays can also be a great way to share your different social media accounts so viewers can check out your artwork on other platforms. Plus, you can let people know how to donate to your channel by adding stream graphics that share your Paypal or Venmo.
Try out any of our overlays today for free, just by signing up! Mix and match to create the perfect art stream layout. If you’re a beginner streamer and need advice on how to live stream digital art, drawing or painting, get more ideas and advice by checking out the official uno Discord and chatting to our growing community of streamers.
