Character Week Streams with Ethicaltea (2k16)

[ezkas]

Hi everyone, ezkas a.k.a. Eliza here. Please call me Eliza, and please pardon my rudeness for creating a topic without first introducing myself in the introduction thread. I'll be sure to do that later, when I'm feeling a bit more eloquent.

(Hi, I'm Eliza. I enjoy long walks on the beach while talking about MKR? What's up, everybody!)

Anyway, to the subject at hand ...

For character weeks last year, as a good portion of you all know, we -- that is, Tea and I -- streamed our art on pixiv for our Rayearth ladies. Of course we'd love to stream again. It was a blast last year! Provided you guys want to join us again on stream.

The reason I'm making a longer post and earlier this year is because we have options for how to stream now: drawpile or pixiv chat. There are advantages and disadvantages to each:

Drawpile (check it out at: drawpile.net)

+ better drawing tools (lasso tool, more than one brush type, etc.)
+ multiple layers and customizable canvas resolution
+ ability to assign layers to certain people
+ because of the above everyone who wants to draw could join us – Tea and I could draw and do requests, or we could all have a giant drawing party on one layer, or both (!!!)

- would have to be a semi-private stream because of privacy issues*
- chat hard to keep up with b/c there is no chat 'ping'
- everyone has to download the software

Pixiv chat (pixiv.net)

+ more lightweight and in-browser
+ proven to work
+ chat easier to keep up with
+ everyone in fandom would be welcome

- I can't even lie tho the limit on drawing tools compared to drawpile l o l
- no drawing party

*Basically, in the current version of drawpile, the person who hosts has their IP address displayed as a way of connecting to the host session. (That would be me, ezkas.) To anyone joining the stream, I would have to pm them my IP address. Although I am aware there are plenty of ways people can get your IP address, I don't want to invite them to. So, I would only be willing to let the people that I am at least mildly familiar with join in. I don't want to limit it to just those who were able to make it last year, so I am extending to people who joined last year and people that those people consider trustworthy. Basically, if Suz or Mokona or Down or anybody who made to last year's stream can attest you're a trustworthy soul, you're welcome to join. No questions asked.

I, uh. I wibbled a lot about how to phrase that. I hope it doesn't come off as rude. I'm just a little guarded on the internet, unless I've talked to the person a bit first. Tea is more comfortable hosting, but we've consistently been unable to connect when she hosts the drawing session, unfortunately. 

Suggestions to work around this issue are welcome.

Also, Tea and I are totally willing to do whichever you guys want. Regardless of the platform, 3 streams are currently planned – one for each of our lovely ladies. However, if it's drawpile, we want to do a test session with other people before character week streams – just for the general purpose to make sure it works with more than just Tea and myself. If you want to draw, I recommend at least testing the program on your own to get pen pressure correct and all. If you attend a test stream, I should be able to help out with that. We're free (FREEEEEEEEE) of most school obligations starting the weekend of May 14th.  We'd love to do a test session then. Let us know.

Lastly, also if you guys want, we could do a combo of either drawpile or pixiv with voice chat for extra fun. I prefer firefox hello for this (because it's so lightweight), but other voice chat suggestions are welcome.

Looking forward to character weeks! Please let us know what flavor of stream you would prefer, we definitely want to take into consideration everyone's input into this!

[VKiera]

This sounds like a lot of fun, I think I really wanted to make the streams last year but couldn't for some reason...I can't remember. May have been because I was at my family reunion...ugh..that may happen again this year. ANYWAYS.

I don't have much experience in live streams and such, but a friend of mine uses Picarto to do her live streams. It might be worth looking into perhaps? IDK, just thought I'd suggest it.

[ezkas]

I don't have much experience in live streams and such, but a friend of mine uses Picarto to do her live streams. It might be worth looking into perhaps? IDK, just thought I'd suggest it.

Hey, yeah, I know Picarto! I've been thinking about getting one for myself at some point.

Unfortunately, it's not possible for Tea and I's purposes. We draw together on the same board. Drawpile and Pixiv are the options that I know of because their multiple-user whiteboards. Perhaps 'streaming' is a bit of a misleading word for what we do -- it's more like interactive drawing chat? Not sure how to put it.

Thanks for the suggestion, though!

And, aww. We'd be happy if you could make it if you'd like to join us this year, but yeah. Family stuff. (Once every year? Wow!)

[suzanami]

so excitedddd <3

I think it depends on if you guys want to be able to do some really nice drawings -- since Pixiv tends to be basically doodling tools -- or make the chatting really easy for as many folks as possible.  Pixiv would absolutely be easier for more people, but I can definitely understand why you'd prefer a nicer drawing program. 

personally I could swing with whatever you guys think is best!  I know that's not exactly helpful in deciding which you go with, though :0

[ezkas]

Hey, Suz, thanks! We've ultimately decided to host it on Pixiv, due both to lack of feedback and it just being easier to host. We occasionally get kicked from the host on Drawpile, which would be bad for an event stream.

Now, Tea and I just need to talk about dates. They will probably be the weekend again, as that seems to be when most people are free. We would still appreciate day of the week and date feedback from people interested in attending to help us gauge interest and availability -- so please feel free to leave your preferences in this thread or our inbox.

[VKiera]

eek, sorry for the quiet, we go through bouts of that around here, we tend to be more chattery on tumblr and elsewheres.

Anyways, currently I think the weekend of the 11-12 would be good for me, this weekend I'll be out of town and the weekend after the 11-12th as well, but by all means you set the date and we'll try to catch it, as long as it's within my time zone and free time. We also tend to get super hyper around Rayearth week on tumblr too, so idk if you wanna wait till then maybe?