Most streaming websites that I know of let you sign up for free. The two most popular ones are tigerdile.com and picarto.tv, which do have premium tiers, but are not necessary to watch. They are free to sign up. As for doing the streaming, you'd have to ask an artist who streams using those sites.

As for buying into the stream, it is not necessary. And as for asking questions regarding the method, I've seen watchers do just that, and usually the streamer will happily explain.

As for rules, you got pretty much got it. The only other common one I've seen is asking before posting links in chat. If an artist has more rules than that, they're probably in a journal somewhere. Once you get in a stream, if you're not sure of something, don't hesitate to ask. Most streamers and watchers are friendly and will gladly answer. (:


FYI, I'm answering this as a watcher myself, as I am not an artist. I hope this helps. (:

I do not use patreon, which is the only site I can readily think of that might put a paywall before watching. But that's still a might.

Something I forgot to mention is that some sites let you chat without signing up, but others are watching only. Usually you have to sign up to watch.

So if you're a watcher only, you can watch the streams on Tigerdile for free? I'm asking only as a watcher for the foreseeable future, so thank you. Every bit I find out helps.

Absolutely. You can sign up and watch on Tigerdile for free. The pay tiers are pretty much for artists who have popular streams.

Thank you. Do you need a Tigerdile account to watch the streams?

You don't need one to watch, but you may need one to chat. It's possible you don't, but it saves from having to set a guest username every stream if you wanna say something.

Thank you!

You're quite welcome. (:

These days, I use Picarto.tv and if I want to share my streaming link, I just post it as a journal link (like thus: https://picarto.tv/dragonsintheattic - it'll show as offline if you click it). I personally don't do a paywall to watch (either in terms of "you've gotta buy a sketch" or "support a donation-income thing") my streams; with Picarto, people who are following me will get emailed notifications if I stream anyway (hence, if I want to do a genuinely PRIVATE stream for a specific person to watch, I might instead use join.me which requires a numeric code entered on their website to access the stream and does not send out follower notifications.)

To view streams on Picarto, one only needs to have the link for the stream - no fee or special software. (Join.me requires a widget)
To stream on Picarto, you do need to have desktop video-capture software installed; I use the open-source Open Broadcaster Software for mine.

In terms of rules for streams, it entirely depends on the artist. For example, when I stream, I'm doing it to keep myself on task first and foremost - if I know that "someone could be watching" then I know I'm a lot less likely to start dinking around on Tumblr or TVTropes, and will just actually-work-on-art. So my streams are structured around "I'm here to work, if you want to watch you're welcome to watch." I do make a habit of notifying my commissioners when I'm starting on their piece if they want to watch. I often stream while I'm working on commissions rather than personal art - so in that respect, I'm definitely working. However, I don't mind people asking questions about the programme I use or any technique queries.

At some point I should probably post a "code of conduct for streams" document/journal/submission; this in my case would probably be "Zero NSFW chat / RP, please don't RP with the artist in general, please don't get upset if the artist doesn't answer your question straight away because the artist is busy drawing. No, I don't do freebies; if you ask me for a piece while I'm streaming I'll ask you for your budget."

I have not had any incidents lately with people being jerks in chat; typically people pop in to watch for a bit and drift off when they feel like it.

Hmm, interesting. You're correct that it shows you're offline but it also shows someone named Kuiko doing a multistream I think it's called so it's like a split screen with your side as grayed out and saying to check back later. The site has a good looking interface so I just might set up an account there.

Thank you for going over how your streams work. It helps to hear from an artist that actually uses one.

Picarto's really artist friendly overall, and yes - they do have "premium membership" options that allow folks to do things like multistream. Kuiko's a good friend, and we typically have the side-by-side stream thing set up courtesy of his membership. Allows us to share the chat stream (which means he often catches questions I've missed and can ping me if I didn't see them) and do dual-stream fun, too.

Unless the artist has specifically accepted a multistream invite, though, the side-by-side stream is not what most Picarto streams will look like.

I figured it was a special circumstance since it was offered as an upgrade option. It was a bit of a surprise since I was expecting a single screen. I guess the buddy system is good for more than just deep sea or scuba diving.

Yeah, definitely - Kuiko and I trade a lot of art tips, and having a dual stream where he can watch me redline something for him (or he can provide me immediate feedback on "that looks a little wonky") works well.

Usually what you'll see is the single screen with the chat panel down one side, and with Picarto I believe you do have to have a login in order to use the Chat (but it's a simple registration).

It's also possible to lightly customise one's stream with an "overlay" using a transparent PNG, for example - which I might at some point configure my own streams with a "Code of Conduct / FAQ" done as a graphic just for fun. I find the most common question I'm asked is "What PROGRAM is that?"

I've already registered and have been watching Kuiko's stream. Looks like he's sketching Bowser in Paint Tool Sai if I have the program guessed correctly. Looks like things are quiet at the moment though. This is the first stream I've ever watched but I like the look and layout of the site. It isn't overly cluttered but still offers several options you can choose from with a few simple clicks.

I'm afraid I'd be guilty of the "What program is that?" question but I'd only need to ask once.

Yep, it is Sai that Kuiko uses, in general - and yeah, pretty quiet stream overall, it's a little early for most midwest/west coast streams to have gotten kicked into gear. Conversely I almost always use Art Rage Pro 4, which visually looks different enough that people don't immediately recognise it if they haven't seen it before.

I tried to use the free version of Art Rage 2 for a while. It lacked the option for layers and on my old computer and the integrated graphics I was stuck with didn't work so well so I never did much with the program. I suppose it all looks radically different now.

I think you'd find that AR3 and ARPro4 are *significantly* different beasties - both of those two have layers/layer groups / layer blend modes enabled, there's even a tablet version of the latter which is fun to play with ... and I think in the years I've used both I've had maybe two programme crashes that lost any amount of work done - it's always been MILES more stable for me than Photoshop.

I've only used Photoshop at work and mostly for photo modification/manipulation rather than full-blown artwork. It's practically a necessity for the way I have to render floorplans these days and the ways I have to fix often bad photographs as sources for textures. Looks like the full program is on sale for 50%. It would be nice to take advantage of that if I'd be able to afford it before the sale ends.