Thank you all, so very much, for the support over the past nearly 15 years that I’ve been selling my art at conventions, selling my art online, and streaming. Your support has meant the world to me and it has enabled me to keep pushing myself artistically, personally, and professionally farther and farther.
I know that changing my studio name might come as a shock to many people, but it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time. I love the name Bento Studios and it does hold a special place in my heart, but the name has caused me and my business issues over the years and I really think that it’s time for a change and there’s no better time than right now.
First, the name “Bento Studios” is confusing.
It implies that I sell bento boxes and people approach my booth looking for those types of goods. Then, people wonder why I chose “Bento” to be a part of my business’ name and ask me about it. This becomes a very long explanation, which usually comes down to two things:
I suck at naming things. No. Seriously, I do. “Bento” was derived from my user name in several games and I’ve just stuck with it.
When I decided to “stick” with “Bento Studios”, I devised a reason as to why it worked to justify not putting in any additional effort into coming up with a better name.
The other issue with the name is the “Studios” part. I felt as if “Studios” suggested that I had movie cameras or multiple locations, maybe even more people working. And that’s what other people seemed to think too: that there were many people working on my art.
So, I’ve always wanted to change it and, by the time each convention season rolled around, it seemed to be more daunting a task than it should have been.
I was afraid I’d lose supporters or that people wouldn’t be able to find my booth.
After doing extensive research, I realized that a name change would be more beneficial. Thanks to the business classes I’ve been taking through FSCJ this summer, I’ve been able to take major steps into making that a reality.
Second, I wanted a name that was better for online streaming and such.
“Bento Studios” sounds too formal. It doesn’t sound “fun” enough! And I’m a fun person! I think it’s an OK name, but it doesn’t reflect what I do or who I am. Besides, no one goes to Twitch to watch a company stream. We go to Twitch to watch a person stream. So, I wanted my Twitch name to reflect that it’s just me and not some corporate entity!
Therefore, I changed my Twitch name in August 2020 from “Bento Studios” to “Jade the Otter Mage”.
I felt like this name personalized the stream more and spoke more to who I am and things that I love.
Third, my business was already undergoing many changes.
Without going into extensive (and quite boring) detail, my life has changed significantly since 2010. I got married, released a manga, ran a convention a few times, started doing this full-time, changed my merchandise significantly, transitioned from traditional to digital prints, expanded my business to larger events and more distant locations, got injured and subsequently lost a lot of revenue because I couldn’t travel, transitioned to drawing on a Surface Pro, got divorced, and am now dealing with the very negative and very real effects of COVID-19.
Because of that injury in 2018, I had to make major changes to my booth layout and products. It wasn’t until mid-2019 that I realized that this pain wasn’t going to go away and that driving long distances (or even short ones) and doing heavy lifting were preventing me from getting any better. So, I started planning and budgeting to fly to conventions.
Halfway through my preparations, in December 2019, my now ex-husband walked out on me, leaving me with nothing but piles of bills which started eating through my business’ reserves.
Then COVID-19 happened.
I don’t need to go on about that because we’re all suffering. However, convention sales were 85% of my business’ annual revenue. My business model that’s worked for the past decade doesn’t work without convention sales.
Had conventions been an option for me, I could have at least managed through the summer without going into major debt. But, ya know. 2020 is a thing.
Regardless of the hardships I’m facing, I knew that now was the best time to move forward with what I’ve been calling the “rebranding” of my business.
I certainly don’t want my LLC name to have my ex-husband’s name on it anymore! So, I figured if I was already going to have to pay to remove his name and pay to change my name to something else, then I may as well just overhaul everything at one time. This will save significant time and money.
So what’s changing and when?
Over the next few months, the Bento Studios site will become a landing page for my Twitch streams, tabletop merchandise, and art website. Bento Studios will become my LLC name instead of Woodruff Enterprises, LLC and I’ll create one DBA to cover the tabletop merchandise shop and another DBA to cover what I’ve been calling “Bento Studios 3.0” for the past six months. The Bento Studios site will have information about me and my company. It’ll remain more of a “formal” business site, whereas the other two sites can now focus on being fun.
Ideally, I’d like to fully transition my sites, merchandise, and booth layouts by January, 2021. But funds are tight and that’s a very aggressive plan given that I’m in school full time this fall and we still have no idea when COVID-19 will decide to take a hike and let us have our lives back.
I’ve already transitioned my Twitch name to Jade the Otter Mage and that’s going well. Don’t worry! If you were following me or subscribed to me, you still are! However, the url is different now, so if you saved it somewhere, you’ll wanna update it to http://www.twitch.tv/jadetheottermage.
My Patreon will be transitioning in January, 2021 and will be focused 100% on the web comic I’m developing and hope to start publishing in 2022. (More on that next year.)
My Ko-Fi will be cancelled. They’ve been billing me for months for their Gold plan and I have begged them to stop and cancel the plan. They never do. There’s no “cancel” button or “change plan” option. So I think I have no choice but to abandon it.
My convention booth’s appearance is still in question. Given how COVID-19 has changed the landscape of conventions, I don’t know what 2021 is going to look like. It honestly scares me. I’m still focused on producing more art to sell, but I’m not placing any orders and most of the art I’m producing is made to be sold on the Internet through sites like RedBubble. I’m booked as Bento Studios for MomoCon 2021 and Anime Matsuri 2021, so I do think there will be a greater transition time for my con booth. I’m hoping to do a “we’re moving!” sort of campaign to let people know that the name is changing throughout the year so that, in 2022, it won’t be as confusing.
My Discord is going to have some changes, but I’m not entirely sure what those will look like. I really don’t like bloating a channel with a lot of subchannels, so I usually just add them as requested.
As for my products…
I’ve been listening to y’all! I know you’re limited on wall space - so am I! So, I’m going to start offering smaller prints, more charms, and more usable art that’s lighter and easier to transport. This does mean that there will be some pricing changes to account for the increase in travel costs, but I don’t anticipate anything significant changing with my pricing.
I plan to do some crowdfunding projects in 2021 to create some limited edition merchandise and I also plan to start pushing out some designs and concept art for a web comic I have in development.
My tabletop merchandise will also be getting its own site! Yay!
As for Game Over… I plan to continue it… eventually. Right now, that’s a bit of a sore spot for me. I love the project, but the events with my ex-husband have made it challenging to work on. I have to purge him from my printed products and that’s going to be time consuming, tedious, and frustrating. Right now, I have more pressing issues to focus on and I want to start that process after my brand has been completely revamped and my own name has changed. No point in updating it twice in a year, right?
As for my current prints… many of them (probably upwards of 90%) are getting discontinued. I’ve yanked them from my online stores. I’m hoping to offer them as free-with-purchase at local conventions until they’re completely gone. It honestly feels silly to put them on sale when it costs more to ship them than the sale price!
Thank you all for the good years! Here’s to many more!
There are too many of you to name individually, but please know that all of you have helped shape who I am and your support has gotten me to where I am today. I couldn’t have done this without you and I certainly wouldn’t have the confidence or capability to stride forward in such an uncertain time without knowing that all of you have my back and have continued having my back for the past nearly 15 years.
It means the world to me that you believe in me, support me, and want to see me succeed.
I want the same for you, too!
Thank you to everyone who has purchased my art or even just stopped by my booth to offer some kind, supportive words.
Thank you to everyone who supports me on Patreon. I know I’ve been bad about keeping it updated and y’all have stuck with me. You’re helping me get through this hard time and words just can’t express how much your unyielding support has meant to me. January will be better.
Thank you to everyone who helped me load in and out at conventions - especially over the past year when I was on crutches and in a wheelchair. I can’t even imagine how much worse off I would have been without your help.
Thank you to everyone who has come by my streams and tossed me a follow or subscribed, donated, or tossed me some bits, or even just chatted for a bit before heading out. You all brighten my evenings four nights a week. I love the fun we have on stream and I can’t wait to have more of it!
Thank you to everyone who comes to my panels at conventions. I love sharing with you and hearing about your goals and aspirations. I’m so proud of all of you who have taken steps to forging your own path. I know it’s hard to put yourself out there and to do literally all of the things it takes to run a business and make your own art. I’m so glad to have been a small part of your journey and I hope you’ll continue sharing it with me.
Thank you to everyone who commissions me and who goes out on a limb to share their original characters and story concepts with me. I know that takes courage. Trusting someone to bring your original characters to life is intimidating and can be an investment. I’m so grateful you chose me.
Thank you to everyone who picks up my original works. I know that gambling on an indie title can be intimidating. It’s an investment of time, energy, and money. It’s because of your support that I keep generating new ideas and pushing forward with projects.
Thank you to everyone who comes by the Discord channel. Your fun and whimsy helps brighten my days. I love seeing your memes, watching you all support each other, and seeing people I’ve met at conventions get to know people I’ve met online. It’s a strange, but really fun place and I love that you’re all a part of it!