Tofusenshi: From Impulsive Beginnings to Artistic Success | Episode 10

Dive into the inspiring story of Tofu, a dedicated freelance artist and Twitch partner who turned a spontaneous decision into a decade-long career. Discover her challenges, evolution, and insights on balancing art, streaming, and community building.

Find Tofu everywhere:
https://www.instagram.com/tofusenshi/
https://www.twitch.tv/tofusenshi

Thanks for listening to The Growth Raid! If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe wherever you're listening and leave a review — it helps more people find the show. 

 🎮 Follow the podcast: 

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thegrowthraid.bsky.social

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/TheGrowthRaid

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheGrowthRaid

Follow Patty: https://www.twitch.tv/patty_tv

Transcript

Teaser

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I had 200 people on a stream. I had, I don't know, 400 subs, which was really good, but I had nobody chatting. Like, there was nobody in the chat for so such a long time, and that's the fun part about it, the interactive part, right? So I'll be talking for an hour, hour and a half, two hours, and then one person comes in, they're like, hello, and I'm like, oh my god, please stay, please stay.

Intro

Patty 0:32

Welcome to the Growth Rate Podcast, where we dive into real streamer stories to find out what is behind the streamer. Today I have with me Tofu, a freelance artist and Twitch partner who has been streaming our heart since 2016, has built a community of over 58,000 people, and honestly creates some of the most chill and beautiful streams you will ever stumble into. Tofu, welcome. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Hi, I'm doing awesome. Thank you so much for having me today. I appreciate it very

Starting streaming at 17 impulsively

SPEAKER_00 1:09

much.

Patty 1:09

To start off, I want to know about your your origin story on Twitch. Why and how did you start streaming?

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Oh, so I started streaming back when I was 17, and it was a very, very impulsive decision. I was looking over looking with my partner at the time, we're looking at Twitch streams, and I'm like, hey, maybe I could, you know, try this too, give this a shot. And then one day I decided it's time to set up the stream, and then I just turned it on without any expectations, without anything. I'm like, I'm gonna see, you know, what this does. And it somehow became a thing, and now you know, 10 years later, here we are. Wow, did you start with art? Yes, I've only streamed like over the years, I've only streamed art. I did have some game streams for like community specials. It's not something for me to stream games, so I enjoy streaming art a bit more.

Balancing streaming and education

Patty 2:03

So when you started streaming, you it was random. Did you have any intentions of like making it your job, or was art already your job? How does that all mix up together?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I'm so when I was 17, I was studying my high school, I was kind of uh finishing it already. And it never it never really occurred to me that it could be a job because mostly, you know, generally if you want to be an artist, what people imagine is you have to die first in order to make money. So that's kind of the mentality about it in here. So I never really thought about it being a job. I just thought it could be fun to chat with some people while I do my art and see if anybody comes in and joins the stream, but I never really thought of it as a job for a really long time.

Patty 2:49

So you started at a really young age, you were still in school. Did you go through through like university while also streaming? And you know, just eventually it grew into what it is?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Uh no. So after I finished my high school, after I did my exams successfully, I said to myself, I'm gonna take a year and I'm gonna see where this goes. And then um, if it doesn't work out, then I'll go study something. If it works out, then I'll just keep at it. And it worked out. So I haven't really ever set my step in a university, and I've been doing that ever since. Which on the other hand, it really makes me happy because if I decided to, you know, put off streaming and then go to university or put off art and go study in a uni, maybe that would have uh slowed down my journey and then I wasn't I wouldn't be able to do what I do now if I, you know, put three years somewhere else.

Patty 3:43

Yeah, you never thought about doing both, like studying and the you know it's too much.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I've done it with with the high school and I was working on commissions while being in class, which was kind of fun, but I always I don't know how I've done that, okay? But for every stream, I had I was doing traditional art, so I had a line art. I had a sketch and a line art prepared every stream, and I was streaming six days a week. And to this day, you know, right now I just turn on the stream and I start drawing anything. But before I always had a sketch and a line art, and then I would be doing the colors live on stream. And it was really hard to keep that up with school, especially because we were having the finals and I had to study for that, but I also wanted to stream. But um, yeah, everything worked out in the end.

Patty 4:27

That's a really fun origin story. So, what were your job was right after high school, and maybe still was already doing commissions and art for art. When did you start, you know, drawing and doing art like that?

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Well, I never had any other job than streaming, like nothing. I never did any other thing in my life, which is a little bit weird, but uh kind of cool at the same time. Um, so it was already my job in a way while I was studying, but my main part of the job was Twitch because I wasn't I wasn't good enough in art for people to actually commission me. So I would be doing Twitch only, and that was like my income. But I didn't how to put it, I didn't care about it much because I was studying, you know, so you're living with your parents, you're not maybe looking at the finances or into the finances as much. And then it slowly transformed from Twitch being my main source of income and my living into more of the commissions. So right now I'm on the path where I'm just doing commissions and then I stream because it's fun and I enjoyed. But before it was like primarily Twitch was my living, and then commissions were just a

Twitch partnership requirements in early days

SPEAKER_00 5:37

sidekick.

Patty 5:38

Oh, that's very interesting. Comparing Twitch to what it was, because 10 years is a really long time, especially here on Twitch, so much has changed. Were like the requirements for a partner already what they are now?

SPEAKER_00 5:53

No. When I was on Twitch, if you wanted to become a partner, you had to write them a form about why you should become a partner, and it had to have over 300 letters in it, and then you had to send it and you had to give them reasons why you should be a Twitch partner.

Patty 6:10

Yeah, that was those were like the first the first first uh streamer, it was to partner streamers was like that. Because I know that came out a bit later.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Uh if you were a partner, then you get you would have the subscribe banner, which it was pretty cool that at that time, if you have a subscribe banner banner on your channel, it actually meant something, whereas now anyone can kind of have it. So before it felt more prestige to be able to subscribe to a person because not everybody had that button.

Patty 6:43

Yeah, it was it was crazy. Can't believe, can't believe that being 10 years in a in the platform, so much changed. Like when when bits first appeared, it was like massive, like bit wars were a thing. There's nothing like that now. When you started streaming, was there already partner? How long did it take you to like apply? Because the process is very different. There was like there were no requirements like it is now.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Um good question. Okay, so I started streaming in April. I think it's actually my streaming anniversary in a couple of days. Uh, and then I got my partner in August, I think it was half a year after that, because um I already had a Facebook page with some sort of following, and those people like for me in Czech Republic, there was no art streamers, so it was something that was unusual, you know, like something new. So people came to the Twitch to check it out to see, like, hey, there's a different kind of stream you can do on Twitch, like it doesn't have to be just gaming.

Streaming in English vs. Czech

SPEAKER_00 7:49

So, did you always stream in English as well? No, I used to stream in Czech for like the first three to four years. I only streamed in Czech.

Patty 7:59

Yeah, what made you change? Was it just to reach more people?

SPEAKER_00 8:04

Um, so my or what I value the most and what I wanted to be is I I wanted to be a good artist and I'm I wanted to connect to people that do this kind of job or do this kind of art, which to be fair, I already had them in the channel, but they didn't speak any Czech. Or I've I was hosted by uh like a lot of streamers at that time that they were streaming English, right? So it kind of felt natural for me to switch the language. Um there's been some backlash about it. Like I oh, I had so much backlash from the Czech community at that time, and my stream kind of died at that point, but then it I had to rebuild it, I had to build new community because a lot of the people stopped watching because they didn't either understand the language or they were really mad at me. So I had to kind of rebuild the community once again.

Patty 8:51

Oh, that's so interesting. I feel like this varies a lot country by country, because I've had like Italian people coming and be like, none of the Italians get mad that they speak in English. And for me, it's opposite because if I have Portuguese coming into my stream and start speaking Portuguese, and I'm like, no, this is an English channel, they also start being like, But you're Portuguese, what do you mean? And it's like it doesn't go inside their heads that you know this is an English channel, it doesn't matter where I'm from.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Oh yes, absolutely. Like I have that so many times, like why are you speaking in English? Like, I'm Czech, we can talk to each other in Czech. So totally, totally understand.

Community growth strategies

Patty 9:32

When you had to rebuild three years in ish, was that journey hard, you know, to grow from from that again, especially in art, because you know, you don't you don't have that thing of changing games to try and reach more people, you just do art.

SPEAKER_00 9:51

Yes, like yes, in Nauru, it was kind of heartbreaking because you already had a community and now you're starting from zero. There are some people that stay there, some people that are still there to this day. Uh, thanks for them. Um, but a lot of people left, so I had to try to reach out to new, like I was reaching in Facebook groups, and I was like, hey guys, I'm working on this piece right now, come and watch me draw. And I was trying to promote it more on social media. Uh, and eventually the people came in, and it had the effect that I was going for because um when I was streaming in Czech, the community, I was younger, the community was younger, and obviously there's less people in Czech Republic, so there's less artists that watch the actual stream. Um so the effect that I wanted was to draw more people in that were interested in the same thing as I was, that were really into art and they wanted to share the passion and like help me out on the journey, or they were fellow artists that already worked in the industry and they were uh offering to help me out. So it even though I had to rebuild the audience entirely, it had the effect that I wanted, and that was to you know be a better artist by having the community to help and also get more people that actually care about the art in the chat.

Patty 11:05

So you were able to like foster the right type of community that you wanted and not just anyone that would find you from then and even now, do you do anything like extra to help you grow your channel, specifically like the the Twitch stream, or do you nowadays just you know you just stream when you want and you just do your art uh and don't do anything out of it?

SPEAKER_00 11:36

I've got it a bit lazy. Uh so that's the first thing. So definitely doing less. Um I it also since commissions became my main source of income, then I can't really I can't really afford to spend that much time on preparing special streams and that kind of stuff. So right now that's on hold, but um I'm trying, you know, as much as I can. So I always have a live post on my Instagram because that's where the majority of my community is or on Discord. I'm trying to still build my social media because that's the great thing as an artist, right? You do an artwork, you post it on socials, somebody finds it, they're like, cool art. Then they click on your bio, they're like, okay, they also stream, and then they come to the Twitch stream as well. So I think you generally, for instance, if you're an artist, you don't have to be posting um like about your stream, you just post your art, and that kind of does the promotional aspect of it, and then people find that you stream and it's all it's all good. So I'm I still try to do things to build my community, but I've definitely grown a bit lazy since then.

Patty 12:40

And back then when you had to rebuild your your main strategy was going in uh like Facebook groups. Was there anything else that you would do?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Um yeah, I mean Facebook was quite trendy at that time, right? Now it's only full of boomers. But before, um, I would be there was like League of Legends groups, right? And I was drawing a lot of League of Legends or like any kind of fan art. So I would always join the group and then just write a post that I'm working on the character, and like people could come and check it on Twitch because this also was a way how to bring more people to art and not necessarily just because a lot of those people didn't know that art was a thing, so they kind of came to the stream and were like, you can stream this, that's pretty cool. So that would be one thing, the Facebook groups. And then just building the Instagram and all the social media. I don't think I've done anything extra added to that.

Mental health challenges and streaming burnout

Patty 13:32

I think your journey is quite different from I I think a lot of uh of the people because you started from some such a young age and you didn't have the pressure of you know having to pay rent, and then your art kind of took off and you you kind of got from there. The costs that you have in your country probably are not I don't know how much it is to how much it costs to live in a check, but I usually compare it. Yeah, I compare it with Portugal as well, right? We're not we don't we don't need like thousands of subs to to be able to survive. Yeah, I feel like that also gives us like this a different thing that we didn't don't need to focus and uh overreact to the numbers. Did you ever felt that that pressure that you know you had to do more stream or you know work extra hard because of that?

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Yes, there was one point where um I thought I'm gonna have to find a different job, and because it was at the time where my stream was really dead, and I don't mean dead in as in like just the financial aspect of it, but my chat was kind of not there, you know, there was no community, um, and I didn't have any commissions, so I was I was constantly. This is not something to flex with, but I was constantly earning below the average wage in here, which is uh pretty low, or not the average wage, sorry, the minimum wage. And I just so at that time I was really thinking, I'm gonna give up streaming and I'm gonna find a different kind of job.

Patty 15:10

Was that was that the only reason you ever thought about you know giving up streaming? Because I usually ask everyone if they thought about quitting, but you know, financial is al always a pressure, but it doesn't have to make you want to quit, right? Uh was there another point in your life for other reasons that you wanted to quit?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yes. There were so there were several. Um there was one that really stands out to me, and that was when I actually had the income from Twitch, and I was I was earning a good living from Twitch. I had 200 people on a stream, I had, I don't know, 400 subs, which was really good, but I had nobody chatting. Like there was nobody in the chat for so such a long time, and that's the fun part about it, the interactive part, right? So I'll be talking for an hour, hour and a half, two hours, and then one person comes in, they're like, hello, and I'm like, oh my god, please stay, please stay. But I'm telling you, for like solid hour, hour and a half, it was dead, and it was several streams, it wasn't just one, it was going on for like a month or two. And at that point, I think I I think I said I might do a little bit more Patreon and less of this because it was really hard to to do it because you're missing the fun part about it. Like you're getting the money from it, but you're not having the interaction with the people, and that's what it kind of is about in the end.

Patty 16:35

Yeah, I totally get that. I feel like with there's some types of streams that we attract the lurkers, and that's totally fine with if people want to lurk. We always appreciate everyone that just wants to be able to do that. We love the lurkers, yeah. We love anyone that just wants to have the tab open and keep us company, but um I feel the same, like the having you know back and forth with chat. Otherwise, it's like for me nowadays it's not as bad because I record a lot of gameplay. So when when I have like low days, I think I think like that. I'm just recording this for YouTube and treat this like that. Okay. But but yeah, it can be so discouraging when you know you're trying to be interactive, asking questions and everything, and there's there's just no one replying, even though there's people watching.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

I do want to share one extra moment where I felt about quitting streaming because I feel like that could be relatable for some of the people watching your broadcast. That's where was when I started getting into digital art and I was learning anatomy, and the artworks didn't look good. And sometimes I would have people that would come to the chat and they would comment on how the anatomy is wrong. Sometimes they wouldn't even have to comment, and I would get so in my head. Like I would be I was sitting here, I was drawing, I was working on my illustration, and then in one moment I'm like, hey, this is really bad. Like, why are people watching this? People shouldn't be watching this. Like, I you know, I should be working on something better, like I should be better. And it really, like, this talk it got me so down that I legit, like middle of the stream, turn it off, I went to the couch and I cried, and that was it. And it that that used to happen so often, and I'm not entirely sure what the trigger was, but I think it was something between my skill not being good enough so people could actually see where I'm lacking, and then me being an overthinker. So in that time, I I cut down the streams and I was focusing way more on Patreon as well because it was mentally really hard because I already I was going to the stream, I turned the camera on, I turned the stream on, and I was already I was already said before I even started. So that was that was really like a it took a huge toll on me mentally, and moving to Patreon helped so much with that because you can really, really get in your head, and it's it's the worst thing ever.

Patty 19:00

Yeah, I always it I feel like it's really I don't know about art. I don't know what what I could compare if not art, uh like me have being doing something. I feel like the only thing I could think of is like when I'm being bad at games, and you know when you play a puzzle game and you get stuck, and I'm like, okay, everybody's gonna leave because I cannot I cannot find a solution. What is happening? But yeah, and this is why I stopped playing games like League of Legends, because I would start raging and I'm like, I don't want people, people are not gonna want people. I know they do, but I don't I I get that, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

But the worst is like you um people don't care, you know. Like nobody nobody was in the chair scrutinizing my art. It's not like they were watching the stream and being like, What is this ugly thing that she's working on? You know, I can't nobody would do that. Um but in your head, everybody's thinking that you suck.

Patty 20:03

Yeah, I feel like it's there's this like two faces, it's like everyone and ever anyone in the internet loves criticizing everyone, but then at the same time, no one really cares. They they will stop, look at it for a second, and move on with their lives, they're too busy. True.

Being a Partner now and then

Patty 20:25

Did the way you feel about being a partner streamer change over the years? Because I feel like back in the day it was like so exclusive, like you know, not there was not a lot a lot nowadays. It's still very exclusive because apparently only the top 1% of streamers are partners, but there's so many partners now. Does it feel different?

SPEAKER_00 20:49

It feels definitely less exclusive. I think I took felt so special at the time when there was just a few people having a partner button up until the time where I went to TwitchCon in Long Beach in the US in 2017, and I have stood in the partner line, and that line was so long, and I'm like, I thought I was I thought I was the only one. Why is everybody in here? Um so that was kind of the first hit where I thought maybe hey, maybe I'm not that special. There's more people. And then right now, if I compare that TwitchCon to the Twitchcons in here, in you that we're having, and there's the partner line or the partner party. There's so many people on the partner party, and um it's it's crazy. Like you get first off, there's people that don't even stream, which is kind of weird, you know. Like I I've tried to network, so I talk to people randomly, especially while waiting for the toilet. That's when I talk with them the most. But I talk with them about their streaming journey, and they're like, Oh, I haven't been streaming for eight years, I'm just here for the free food. Going to TwitchCon just for the free food. The food is not even it's great, but it's not that great, you know, to go there just for the food. And I had that so many times. Um Definitely feels less exclusive now. I feel like everybody and their dog is a partner. Um, so yeah, it feels definitely less exclusive to what it used to be.

Patty 22:09

I still I still like having partner friends that go upstairs and get me free food or drink anyway.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

They but they they don't like that. Sometimes they don't yeah, but sometimes they don't let me do that because I was trying to do that for my boyfriend, but I always had to bite in it, you know. Like I had to go and I had to bite in the thing, and I was like eating it on the escalators on the way down. I'm like, oh yeah, I'm eating this burger, I'm not bringing it anywhere. So then he got like the little piece that was left.

Transition from traditional to digital art

Patty 22:35

Let's talk a little bit more focused on your art because you said you started with like traditional and then you had a period of adaptation to digital, but the the did did the art itself change over the years?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

So much, so much because my main goal was to improve and like become a really good artist and become good at what I do. So I essentially draw the same things, like I'm still doing fantasy characters, I'm drawing commissions and things, but it's so different because first of all the medium has changed. So in traditional art, it looked traditional artsy with markers and uh liners, whereas in digital art it's more painterly, closer to maybe like an oil painting. Um, but the skill has changed tremendously. Like if I reflect on the pieces that I've done 10 years ago, it's it's day and night to the pieces that I do now. Essentially, I feel like you can still see me in that style, like you can tell that it's for me. But uh my my thing was to that that's kind of why I like the tweet stream because I wanted to prove everybody that I can learn this, you know, I can I can become good. Just give me time. So I'm happy that I've kind of not I haven't finished that journey yet, but so far I'm succeeding in it. So the artwork does look different.

Patty 23:57

I've only ever seen you do digital, so that's all I know. Why did you do the shift from traditional to digital?

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Because I wanted to be like my idols, and they all, you know, when you're doing a League of Legends splash art, when you're doing uh concept art for games, like you have to do digital art. It doesn't really I mean you could do some stuff in traditional art, but they usually require a knowledge of Photoshop.

Patty 24:21

Interesting. Did you did you start with doing fine art? Because I I do remember seeing a lot of your like legend League of Legends fine art, which is amazing by the way.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Thank you. Yeah, I I did because that at that time when I started streaming, I was only drawing League of Legends because that was the only thing that people would watch. Because I mostly had gamers from the Facebook groups that was focused on League of Legends. So when I was drawing League, I had 170 people. When I was drawing Studies, I had 20. So the majority of my content was League of Legends at that time.

Patty 24:56

You you kind of joined the you know the good the the numbers with something you liked drawing as well, right? Yes, I've always enjoyed the game, so I don't mind.

Landscape of freelancing and self-criticism

Patty 25:08

Is there like I feel like the freelancing world is is like full of like uncertainties? What do you find like it's the hardest part of like being an artist and streamer in the terms of you know making a living?

SPEAKER_00 25:24

Hmm getting out of your head for sure. Uh stop overcriticizing yourself, but apart from that, um it depends who you are as a person. So generally, after my dad, I'm a very hard-working person. Like, if you tell me to do a task, like I'll sit here and I'll do it until it's finished. Um, so it hasn't really been a problem for me, but I've noticed with my peers and other people, uh, what they mention is you're sitting at home, and then technically they can only see you when you're on a stream, and then you should be doing some art. But you can get, you know, a little bit more, you can procrastinate more because you're essentially working from your home. So I feel like you have to be you your will has to be strong enough to actually still work on that art. Because technically you're at home, you got the whole free day, you could be doing anything, you could be playing games, you could be going for a walk, but you have to decide that you're gonna sit down and you're gonna do the commission.

Patty 26:27

Do you do you decide like do you schedule yourself? Like for me, for me to because right now the only like actual work that I do that you know comes from me is the podcast. So I have to schedule times on my calendar. Like at this time, you're gonna work on the podcast. There's there's no other way around it. I have other free time. Do you have any other type of you know, way of making the work or making yourself work?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

No, I just for me, because I've been doing it for so long, I don't think about it anymore. It's like brushing your teeth. I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, I sit here and I draw. Um, you know, there's no like I don't really need to plan it, it's just something I do. I do have the stream, so even in the day, let's say that I wasn't feeling up to it or I wanted to sleep in, which that barely happens because I'm such a morning person. But let's say if I wanted to do that, like I still have the stream to keep me in check. It's right now it's four days a week, so it's not that crazy, but I would still have to be there for the stream and draw on the stream. But I haven't really the only time when I don't want to draw is if, and that has happened before, I've taken a commission that is way above my skill set, but I wanted to prove that I can do it, so I've taken that commission, and now I don't want to work on it, so I'm avoiding the tablet like a plague, and I'm doing anything else. But at that time, my house is so clean, it's sparkling.

Patty 27:53

I can totally relate to that. For me, I feel like I can relate because I'm a developer by you know, when I was not streaming, uh, I was a web developer. And usually in development companies, you can choose what there's like a table of all the tasks that need to be that you can choose, and you go you go there and you pick what you want to do. Sometimes I would pick something a bit too hard, and instead of asking for help, I would also avoid it, and then half an hour after before the in the meeting, I would have to figure out how to do it. I totally get that.

Trade offs of doing commissions on stream

Patty 28:33

Um you usually do your commissions on stream, right? Unless maybe if your your clients say you you can share. Do you ever see like streaming while working on commissions affecting your art?

SPEAKER_00 28:50

Well, I have to say, and being completely honest, that sometimes I ignore the chat to work on commissions, so it's the other way around. Sometimes I feel that maybe I should give more attention to chat because I'm still a streamer and like less attention to the to the work, but that's really hard for me to do. So it definitely you're slower. I'm not gonna lie, you're definitely slower. Um, and I wouldn't be able to do as much as I can do now in the past because I was not you know as good as I'm now. So before I couldn't do sketches on a stream, so any kind of sketch had to be done outside of a stream. Now I just turn the tablet on and then we sketch something together. Um, but you're definitely so slower when you're streaming your commissions, but you know, you get to talk with people, it's not like you're sitting home alone. So I did I do think it's worth it.

Patty 29:43

Yeah, it's it's a different thing because you want it to be good and you have to talk with chat, so you know that makes it you being kind of slow.

Conventions and offline exposure

Patty 29:53

And what about conventions? Did do conventions help your art, your stream, a little bit of both? Why do you why do you do it and when did you start?

SPEAKER_00 30:05

I like meeting people. I started uh back in actually 2017, maybe like a really long time ago. Um, I was selling my traditional art and I was selling prints from the traditional art. And because I was streaming in Czech, I mostly did the conventions in here. And I the conventions were really good for me. Um, so like even financial advised or just the amount of people that came to say hi. So I kind of stuck with that until one point where I was doing a convention in Hungary in Budapest, and uh in that moment I realized, you know, maybe people are buying the prints because they know me as a streamer, but the art is really not on that level for people that don't know me to buy it. And I'm like, hmm, okay, challenge accepted. So that was the time when I switched to digital art. I've put conventions aside for like four or five years. I haven't gone anywhere. Nobody heard of me. And then I came back and I came back with some digital prints, which was a shock because it was a different style of artwork completely. I do, you know, now I go to the conventions here locally in Czech Republic, and I'm I'm going on TwitchCon this year. And I've been on a convention in Paris as well, so that was a lot of fun. And right now people are buying the art not only because they know me, but because that they also like the art, which is kind of what the goal was.

Patty 31:30

That is the best part when you know they the ones that know you all will always try to get your art, but you know, when you're at a convention when no one knows you and they go there and buy your art. Do you ever notice that some of them then pop into stream?

SPEAKER_00 31:46

Yes, like it's usually people that ask about commissions, they go to the stream and see how things are done. And then I mean, I had that on a check invention actually. I had somebody that was that was asking about an artwork, and then we talked, and then I think they noticed that I streamed, they came to my stream and they gifted 500 subs, and I'm like, Wow. So, but that was like the only crazy time when that happened, but there is usually new people coming to the stream from the convention. The worst is is I like to talk a lot and I talk about the convention and I talk about the people from the convention, and sometimes there are people that talk a lot. It's just the truth, or they're spending a lot of time at your table, and sometimes they mention that on a stream, and then one time I had the I had a guy that I was talking about watching, so you also have to take that into account.

Patty 32:43

Especially at TwitchCon, because it's the the one that most people maybe will be in both places.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

But that's you know, that's kind of the your best audience because everybody's already they know Twitch. Maybe they're not actively watching Twitch, but they know Twitch. So best audience to cater

IRL streaming experiences

SPEAKER_00 33:01

to.

Patty 33:01

Do you do a lot of like IRL streams? The only two that I know that you've done were like when you were streaming at TwitchCon and when you did like the window painting recently. Is that like something that you do?

SPEAKER_00 33:15

It's so much fun to do wireless streams, and I would like to do it more, but it is so stressful because things are not working. You know, the mobile app for streaming is kind of wack, and then there's wind, there's bad data coverage. We're doing an hour stream with Maya when we're walking her dog, and like suddenly the the internet drops because we're in a forest. I should have maybe thought of that, but you know, not everywhere is data coverage. I've also done some streams from my vacations. So I've done a stream from Singapore, I've done a stream from Lightbox Expo in LA because I thought it was interesting for the people that are interested in art to see how the convention like that looks, how the artist study looks. But it's so it's another thing to think about. So if I'm doing IRL streams whilst we're on a vacation, I have to take my entire setup. I have to make one day where I'm just gonna stream. So that's one day out of the vacation just for streaming, and then you have to constantly worry about having everything, having like good data. You have to buy usually the more expensive data so you can actually do this stream. And it's I'm not sure if the worry is worth enough because the stream only lasts how long my battery lasts, so which is like two hours or two and a half hours. So maybe I'll do that more if they redo the app and they do some upgrades to it, because then it would be so much easier.

Patty 34:37

You do it straight from the Twitch app?

SPEAKER_00 34:40

Yeah. Because my microphone doesn't work with the other apps, sadly. And iPhone doesn't have Streamlabs.

Patty 34:48

When I do IRLs, well, I'm Android, so I use IRL Pro for uh for Apple, you have Moblin. That's what I see the other streams. Uh it's a it's a bit it's a bit different because you know, when I did IRL, I have a whole IRL setup where my phone streams to my OBS and my OBS streams to Twitch. But I have the same issue as you where I'm in the park, and if I go under the trees, my my data is like, where are you? And I'm like, seriously, it's just a couple of trees.

SPEAKER_00 35:21

But yeah, like it was the same for me. It's kind of easier to do it locally, at least, because I don't have to worry about the data. So I've done a couple of RL streams just walking through Prague for because for me it is so casual, it's just Prague, right? Like I've been here a million times, but then I realized there's a lot of people on the stream that maybe would like to go but can't afford it or can't go. So I just took them through Prague and I do like the history, and I feel like I know a lot of useless information that I like to share about the buildings and everything. So we've done a couple of tour streams. I had oh my god, there was somebody that ran up to me and they noticed that I'm streaming, right? And they were like, Wait, wait, here's a donate for you, and then they gave me two euros. That's so cute. It was so cute, but it was so awkward at the same time. It was like a group of um group of Czech guys that they were I don't want to sound too old, but they were kids, right? You just one of them runs up to you. Oh, I felt I felt so cool, but also really awkward at

Future plans and ambitions in art and streaming

SPEAKER_00 36:20

the same time.

Patty 36:20

What do you see yourself doing like from you think you're always going to do art and twitch, especially because you never did anything else, you know. I had like five different types of jobs before I did realize.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Well, I'm definitely gonna do art with Twitch, we'll see how it how it goes and how it ends up. I would love to do it, but yeah, we'll see where that goes. I definitely want to still keep doing art, whether that's commissions, whether that's through a Twitch stream, or whether that's maybe working for somebody, you know, being employed and working in a studio. Just not sure if I'm on that level yet, so I'm still like trying to get better and better so I can eventually be on that level and be an employable artist. But so far the plan is just to do freelance art, see what works, you know, trying to always trying to find new things or finding new interesting commissions. And if it doesn't work out, I'll be a tour guide or I'll bake things.

Patty 37:20

I think we have very similar personalities because there's people that have like five and ten year plans, and we're just here like, yeah, we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_00 37:30

But that's the best one, right? Because if you make a plan for yourself that in five years you're gonna be the biggest streamer of Twitch, like honestly, you could work can I say ass? You can work your ass off, but still maybe maybe you're just not the right person for the streams. Maybe it just doesn't work out for you. Maybe you've been at the wrong place the wrong time and just didn't have enough luck to become the biggest streamer. So I don't feel like you can really plan it with streaming, to be fair. That's true.

Patty 38:01

That I think that goes across to all types of social media, and then there's the other part. If if you become like a top streamer, I feel like your life is so you know, everyone everyone will talk about you. We cannot do anything like out of line that everyone is going to comment. I feel like it's it's so much pre- I feel like I like being a streamer. I would like to stay in the mid mid tier of streaming where you know enough people know me so that I can do this as a job, but not as many people that you know everyone would be saying anything about.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

It's it's crazy, like people run after you, or they I've seen it with the fellow streamers, not myself, but you know, you should I don't think it must be a tough life to live. Like either you can't go to the public or without you know, a security or something. I yeah, wouldn't want that either. It seems too too tough.

Patty 38:58

And then you cannot even say anything like a little bit out there that everyone is gonna be like on you.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Yeah yep. And not even yeah, you you can't do anything.

Final advice for art streamers feeling stuck

Patty 39:13

Is there anything you would say to let's go specifically for an art streamer that you know has been feeling stuck and wants to grow as a streamer, not as an artist, but as a streamer.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Well, I'm not that successful in streaming to give advice to that, to be fair, but I think doing like being I'm gonna say all the things I don't do, okay? Being a part of other people's communities, going into their chat and saying hello, doing collab streams, uh, where you're just working on something together, you're doing a collab stream, so you're getting a little bit of their community and they're getting a little bit of um yours. Doing raids, um, I do those actually. So doing raids is like number one thing. You have to raid other people, they ask about your art. But I do feel if you want to grow as a streamer, then being part of communities, engaging in other people's streams, collaborating with other people, doing like duo streams is so so beneficial. But it is also a little bit of work, so it depends. Depends on your priorities.

Patty 40:19

Yeah, I I do think the the best part of Twitch is like getting people from other socials to Twitch is harder than you know trying to mix your community with other communities that are already in the Twitch space.

SPEAKER_00 40:34

Yeah, like definitely don't think of it as a competition. I feel like that's what we're in here in Czech Republic. That's what the streamers are kind of set against each other. Like everybody's a competition, we're not gonna raid people because my people might leave. So definitely don't treat it like a competition because it's not like if there's a person that doesn't like you, you're not gonna make them like you, so they're just gonna go to a different stream, anyways.

Patty 40:55

Uh, what is like the weirdest commission that you ever had to do on stream?

SPEAKER_00 41:01

Oh, on stream? I already knew what I wanted to say, but then you said on stream, um there's not many weird commissions you can draw on stream because there's a lot of rules on Twitch. But um I've been asked to draw a horse cork before. I could not do that on a stream. So but I don't know if I had anything weird on a stream. Weird commissions off stream, then yes, yes, uh, especially before air was a thing. I've gotten a lot of not safe for work commissions, and I'm really grateful for them, okay? It's just sometimes the conversation between you know me and the commissioner is kind of funny because the rather not mention it, but you know, because they're not safe for work commissions. But on a stream, I don't know if I've ever gotten I can't recall anything. I got a normal work on a funny commission. Probably no. It's just outside of a stream.

Patty 41:55

Do you have any closing remarks? Anything that we didn't talk about that you think would be beneficial to tell people?

SPEAKER_00 42:04

If you're an artist and you're going to stream, I would say uh think what you value the more. What you value more. Do you value more being a really good streamer and a successful streamer or being a good artist? Because those things they do mix, but not entirely. So either you're really focusing on the stream, you're focusing on the community and on building one, uh, doing special streams, you know, and the art takes a the backseat, or you could be, you know, like a really good artist, and that's the goal for you, because that's the goal for me at the moment, and that makes the community take a little bit of a backseat, and I'm putting my art on the front and like this is what I want to do, this is what I want to be good at. If somebody wants to tune in, they can, but I'm not necessarily overdoing it, I'm more focusing on myself and my work, being a good artist. If anybody is up for the journey, then I would love them to join. But it's not like I'm actively looking for it.

Patty 43:01

Having clearer focus on what you want, right?

Connecting with Tofu online

Patty 43:04

Well, we did have a lovely conversation. So if people out there in the internet want to find you, where can they go?

SPEAKER_00 43:11

Oh, they can go on my Instagram. I think that's my biggest social at the moment. So it's just uh I'm Tofu Senji on Instagram, or I have a Twitch stream where I'm also Tofu Sinji. I want to say Tofu Sinchi everywhere, so wherever you type that, I'll be there. Except for YouTube, because there's some guy that makes vegan cakes that is Tofu Senji, so not on YouTube. But otherwise, everywhere.

Patty 43:31

Last question before I let you go. If I could have any streamer here on the podcast, who would you recommend me having having a conversation like this?

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Maya?

Patty 43:43

Maya. The the one that did the the window painting with you? Was that her? Mm-hmm. You're like, how many streamers do I know?

SPEAKER_00 43:54

I feel like I know that one, and then Simsart is always up for some fun conversation. Labs and do streams and podcasts. I'm so many people stop streaming. So it's like all the names that I had from before and they don't stream anymore. So I would go with Sims Ard or Maya.

Patty 44:16

Yeah. I think uh people like you and me, and like one of my previous guests that we've been in the platform for 10 years, and like the really cool people that we knew, like back in the day, they all they don't stream anymore. It's so sad.

SPEAKER_00 44:30

Nope. Dave Greco streaming artwork.

outro & credits

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Good times.

Patty 44:36

Thank you again, Tofu, and thank you to all our listeners at home. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to give us a follow. You can find the growth raid podcast wherever pods are cast. And if you can, tell a friend about it because word of mouth means the world. We'll see you next time on the growth raid. The growth raid was created, posted, edited, and produced by me. If you like the show, feel free to rate it on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. That really helps a lot. And don't forget to subscribe to the YouTube channel. If you would like to listen ad free and see all of this episode's bloopers, join us on Patreon at patreon.com slash thegrowth rate. We also have a Twitter, Blue Sky, and Instagram at the GrowthRate. And if you'd know a streamer that would have an amazing story to share, leave your recommendation in the comments.