A group of talented young artists from The Northern School of Art (CCAD) have created a buzz for a local beekeeping association after designing a series of digital colouring-in sheets for its website.

Students from The Northern School of Art’s Green Lane campus in Middlesbrough, currently on the first

year of their UAL Extended Diploma in Art and Design, were given a ‘live brief’ from Cleveland Beekeeping Association (CBA) to develop the creative drawings as part of their course.

Following a visit from members of the CBA late last year, which included getting up close and personal with the bees and their hives in the classroom, the art and design students were tasked with a project to help raise awareness of the charity and its support for bees and beekeeping.

To engage with a wider audience, the marketing team from the CBA asked the students to produce a range of colouring-in sheets using traditional and modern drawing and digital illustration techniques and a variety of materials.

Graham Clarke, Cleveland Beekeepers Association Officer and Web Editor, was absolutely delighted with the results when he visited the arts college to review the work. He said: “It was great to see the quality of the work the students had produced and the variety of different interpretations they had put on the subject, from simple strong graphics to almost abstract designs to attempts to encapsulate some of the issues in their artwork. We look forward to displaying some of them to our members.”

John Canning, Chair of the Cleveland Beekeepers Association said: “We were pleased to have the opportunity to work with a local college to help with the development of young people and spread the spread the message that bees are good for the environment and look forward to similar opportunities in the future.”

17-year old student George Richardson from Ingleby Barwick in Stockton-on-Tees, created artwork for the colouring sheets which particularly impressed Graham.

George said: “My concept for the design was to create an exciting colouring page with lots of areas of interest, and included smaller parts within it inspired by the bee hive symmetry.

“After researching pictures of bees and bee ar

t for inspiration, I sketched rough designs until I found one that I liked and then developed the ideas further. I enjoyed actually working on my final idea on the computer using Photoshop and the new tools it provides, and it was a fun and creative project to work on.”

The designs will now be used for the CBA website as part of its campaign to encourage new members to learn about bees and the benefits of beekeeping. The colouring sheets will also be made into a booklet by The Northern School of Art to help promote the college and the UAL Extended Diploma in Art and Design.

Amanda Smith, Art and Design Level 3 Tutor, said: “It’s been a fabulous opportunity for the students to develop work for a real client, with real issues. They have responded with some fantastic ideas, they are all very excited about being published both on paper, and digitally. We always aim to give students professional experience to put them ahead of the game, regarding creative jobs in the future.”