For our ninth edition of Spotlight on IRIAM: Meet The Streamer, we’re joined by Ayana Spector, the #1 (only) employee of the Ghostal Service! She has a yokai buddy named Tofu who sits on her shoulder and helps with ghostly duties. When Ayana isn’t delivering messages from the afterlife, she likes to draw, sing, and play games.
Ayana has been a streamer on YouTube for around 4 years and joined IRIAM as a founding streamer when it launched last year! She has a creative background in animation and drew and rigged her own model. She often has way too many projects going on at once. Stop by her streams to learn more about some of them!
What inspired you to become a VTuber?
During the pandemic, as others stuck inside with nothing else to do, I fell down the VTuber rabbit hole. I started watching Nijisanji JP mostly, especially my oshi, Kaida Haru! His model really appealed to me, and his guitar/singing streams got me hooked. I started off drawing fan art of him and other livers and even got noticed a couple of times for it, which made me ridiculously happy! So I started hyperfixating on VTubers a lot and taught myself Live2D, thinking maybe I’d just make art and models for people… but then I tried streaming myself, and it was so fun I never stopped.
“The fact that people willingly tune in never ceases to amaze me. I’m actually quite the yapper when given the space for it, who would have thought?”
Could you tell us a bit about your VTubing journey before discovering IRIAM? What were your early experiences like?
Truthfully, I never saw myself becoming a streamer because I’m super introverted. In person, I tend to keep quiet because when I actually talk, I get really self-conscious about rambling, talking over other people, or saying something weird and ruining the mood. So when I started streaming, I wasn't really expecting it to last long. I just wanted to use it as a way to get my art out there. But it turns out streaming is great for me because I always have the floor to talk about whatever I want, while still getting to interact with people and read chat at my own pace.
It’s not that I dislike letting other people talk or anything; it’s actually the exact opposite, because I always value what they have to say over what I have to say to the point where I’ll just shut up and listen. But when I stream, the whole point is for me to be the one talking, so I don’t feel bad! I think anyone who’s visited my streams has experienced me going on random tangents and rants (especially if they’re animation-related). The fact that people willingly tune in never ceases to amaze me. I’m actually quite the yapper when given the space for it, who would have thought?
You’re a very creative artist, and it’s great seeing your illustration skills. How did art become part of your VTuber identity?
Without going into too much detail, I have a small amount of experience in the animation industry, though it’s been a minute since I’ve found work there. One aspect of it I came to resent was the way so many creative ideas would never see the light of day because these big companies refused to take a chance on original stories. I felt like the only way I’d ever get to have complete creative freedom over something was if I did it entirely on my own. So when I decided to become a VTuber, I took a lot of pride in doing everything myself, from the design and rigging to the lore.
I originally made my model with the intent of creating tons of content around the lore and murder mystery behind how I became a ghost, but it ended up being too big an idea for me to handle on my own, so I chose to rebrand slightly. I recently made my 3.0 model, which is the one you see today, and it was really fun coming up with something more goofy and lighthearted that lets me brand myself as such while still incorporating my original lore.
“I think it’s also great having that flexibility to follow my whims and not feel chained to do only one thing forever.”
How does being able to illustrate your own assets and other creations affect your content?
On the one hand, it’s great because I get to decide everything! On the other hand, I have to make all the decisions. I always have a ton of ideas for projects I want to take on, but since it’s all stuff I want to handle on my own, I often have trouble prioritizing what to work on first. For example, I want to teach myself Blender to make animated shorts! I have an entire second channel I want to dedicate to animation stuff, but I haven’t posted anything to it yet. But then my brain will go, “Hey, what if you drew Demon Slayer characters for 31 days in a row?” So I’m a little all over the place. But I think it’s also great having that flexibility to follow my whims and not feel chained to do only one thing forever.
How would you describe your own community and the atmosphere you’ve built together?
My community is amazing. I have regulars who have stuck around since day 1, and many who followed me from YouTube to IRIAM and vice versa. I feel so lucky to have people who indulge me and my crazy ideas, or listen to me rant about my newest hyperfixations. I truly feel like I can be myself on streams, so I hope that in turn I’ve created a comfy space for my chat to hang out and vibe together! I hardly keep up with anyone in my personal life as often as I do with my chat, so I’m really grateful to have them around. Even if sometimes they bully me (I bully them back, don’t worry).
What are some memorable moments or streams you've had on IRIAM?
Some of the funniest things happen to me when I’m out and about, streaming just on my phone, because IRIAM makes it so easy. One time, I was drawing an Inktober piece at a cafe. While I was streaming, a random girl came up to talk to me, wanting to see what I was drawing! She probably thought I was doing something cool like drawing the outside of the building or life drawings of people walking past, but I had to explain to her that I was just drawing Demon Slayer fan art while trying not to let her see my VTuber model on my phone. This is one of the cringiest/funniest memories I will take to the grave.
One of my other favorite moments was a while back during Chinese New Year. My mom talked on my stream for a bit! It was so funny seeing chat shower lots of gifts at Mamayana. She still doesn’t really understand VTubers, but it was a really wholesome moment.
What kind of streams can viewers expect from you on the platform?
I love yapping about anime, and even have an anime club where, at the beginning of the month, I choose a series to watch, and we can all discuss it at the end of the month! My current hyperfixation is Gachiakuta, and I’ve been talking about it constantly in the hopes that I will soon influence everyone to watch it. I also love to sing, and sometimes will play ukulele or just do regular karaoke with instrumentals. And as I mentioned, sometimes I’ll just take chat with me while I go out and do random things like eat at In-N-Out or buy groceries at Trader Joe’s.
“I want to… live out my dreams of being an indie creator.”
You’ve taken on several creative projects. Can you share some highlights from past or ongoing ones?
One community project I did before that I hope to recreate soon is an animated short we made together! I did a 72-hour short film with my chat - we wrote the script, storyboarded, and animated the whole thing on stream. Some viewers contributed art and voice acting, and it was such a fun project that ended up serving as my starting screen on YouTube.
One current project I mentioned is that I have a whole slew of ideas I want to work on around my “Ghostal Service” concept. I want to make animated shorts, create merch like stationery sets and postage stamps, and basically live out my dreams of being an indie creator.
Do you have any upcoming projects or events we can look forward to?
The big one coming up is that I’m in charge of IRIAM’s Christmas in the Park tree in San Jose! I go every year, and last year I thought, how fun would it be to have an IRIAM tree! So when signups opened, I brought it up to the IRIAM staff, and to my surprise, they sponsored the whole tree! So I’m going all out, making lots of ornaments to feature all the lovely streamers, and even made a Shirasu tree topper. Hopefully, any Bay Area locals can come through and check it out in person throughout December! In terms of personal events, my 4th VTuber anniversary is coming up on Dec. 18! I’m still putting together plans for it, but I am looking forward to celebrating it with everyone!
Editor: Meira
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