A list of related words, a sample of colours to use including experiments with metalic markers, and some practice of drawing bees, decorative elements and flowers through reference of books I own + Pinterest & Dribble searches. The decorative floral H, some of the flowers, and some of the filigree elements are direct copies referenced from a book I own called Handmaide Soirees - they are not my original ideas.

Playing around with a Micron Brush pen. It's difficult to get the hang of drawing smoothly with a brush pen, but it's fun! I was testing out a metalic gold Sharpie here as an inline for black letterforms.

I tried the dropcap concept just to simplify things. It was nice to practice incorporating characteristics of a honey bee into just one letter. My favourite one is the bold serif H with the drop shadow that is framed by branches / flowers.

I spent the most time on this sketch out of the four revised sketches I made. They all have major room for improvement - I just wanted to explore my favourite concepts in a bit more detail before chosing one and refining it further.

A small attempt at representational lettering using the hairy quality of a honey bee's legs for the words "Honey Bee" in the centre. I didn't refine this sketch or the one after it as much as the first two.

I revised the "honey bee" lettering by fixing the tight space between the 'y' and the wing, as well as closing the bowl on the 'b'. I also re-drew the date, which had previously bothered me. The date has since changed, which you can see in the final image below.