I kind of knew in the back of my mind when I first formulated the idea of my polish brand that I wanted a cute, anime-esque, cartoon character mascot. Once I settled on "Geeky Bee's" (named after myself, Beth, the geek), I knew what direction we were going. I wrote up a long, and probably overly detailed, description of what I saw in my head - which essentially boiled down when explaining it to friends as "You know, sort of like me in high school, only a little bit cooler, like how I wanted to look in high school? But as a bee. That makes sense, right?"
I first approached a friend who draws original manga style characters, and they took several swings at Bee, including a few original line arts that included very large fairy-style wings and four arms. They finally settled on this early concept, which I thought was absolutely adorable:
We knew that it was maybe a little too much like me, with the hardcore RBF, but it was a good starting point. Unfortunately, that artist was unable to move on to the next stages of Bee due to life circumstances, so I had to seek out someone else to give it a shot.
I approached another old friend, one who had less experience with an anime style, but who is very talented at comic art. He immediately took a crack at it, and produced this early idea:
..which looked so much like me as a bee that I couldn't even believe it! However, we decided it was a bit too intricate for a label, and started over from scratch. We met up bi-weekly for months; I'd give ideas and he would draw a line, and erase it, and draw another. I felt like even though I can't draw at all, we really created her together from scratch. We were almost there with this one:
Until one day finally we flipped her around, changed a few lines, and went with this, the first official "Bee":
We were so happy. We talked about all of the fun places and costumes we would put her in for my different planned releases. We finished off the rest of the character design and put the artbook away for awhile, since I still had many months before I would be ready to launch - turned out to be over a year, in fact.
We ended up enlisting the help of another graphic artist to finish her off; a coworker of my spouse's, to work out some kinks with the hands and add some dimension, as well as to do some coloring. This would end up being essentially the final version of (OG) Bee.
Next, it was time to take her to my artist cousin for his graphic design expertise. He made some minor edits and major graphic tweaks, created my logo, and added the GB lettering. Viola! 4 artists later, and my branding was ready for launch!
OG Bee is very, very dear to my heart. The amount of time, care, and work that went into her, both from myself and all of the artists, was absolutely worth it for me. I was - and still am - very proud to have her on my labels and as the face of the brand for the first couple of years.
In the summer of 2022, however, it was time for a glow-up.
My original artist friend and I had wanted to give her a paperdoll-esque change up for celebrating each new release, but that never worked out beyond me occasionally putting a special design on her t-shirt. Sadly, due to more life circumstances, he was unable to continue collaborating on the art with me, as he ran completely out of spare time. I was greatful for what we created, but I knew that this meant that there would be no additions or new work done with Bee going forward. It looked like I'd never really be able to change her up and bring those ideas to life.
Just when I'd given up on those possibilities, I reconnected with a good old friend at our high school reunion. (Yet another extremely talented artist.) We got to talking, and he offered to give Bee a makeover. Less than 30 days later, his "Plain Jane" Bee arrived in my inbox and she was anything but plain. I fell for her instantly.
Since then, he has produced numerous artworks of Bee in various worlds and 'cosplays' to go along with new polish collections. He decided he liked that idea better than my thought of a 'paperdoll,' and I have to say that I whole-heartedly agree. Each of the pieces has been just wonderful, gorgeous work, and I couldn't be happier to have them. Look for some of the different pieces on Instagram and stay tuned in future blogs on varying collections!
It's been a long and complicated journey with Bee, but she has always been worth it to me. I truly feel like the polish brand - and I - would not be the same without her, and for that, I have to thank each artist I have worked with and commissioned along the way: Willow, Chris, Linda, Nikko, and Mike. You are all so talented and amazing, and I sincerely appreciate you and your work. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Until next time, my dearest nerds, remember that nail polish is for everyone, to take care of yourself and one another, and that I love you. <3