It was roughly a year ago, when 40 illustrators in a Dutch facebook group decided they wanted to help bees. Everyone has probably heard about honey bees, but not so many people know that there are about 20.000 different types of wild bees.
In the Netherlands, more than half of the wild bee species face a risk of extinction (especially chubby bumblebees). But they are important pollinators, providing us and many animals with lots of different types of food...
With this in mind, the illustrators set out to make a childrens book. The aim was to create a fun, educational parade of artworks to raise more awareness about the importance of bees. As enthusiasm grew, the project also grew. Thanks to a collaboration between KNNV Publishers, the Dutch Bee Foundation, two bee experts, two authors and the illustrators, 'Wilde Bijen Parade' (Wild Bee Parade) was finally published this month.
It was inspiring to create this book as a group. And some of the illustrators even got a bit 'bee crazy': turning their garden into bee paradises, and baking bee pancakes... We hope we can share some of our 'bee enthusiasm' with you. Happy World Bee Day!
This post was made together with Mariekemuis.
More info: knnvuitgeverij.nl
Work in progress - lots of sketches
Each illustrator worked on visualising a specific theme in their own style. The topics include why bees are important, some of the reasons why they are endangered, and how we can help them.
A few sample pages
The illustrators mostly communicated together online. Even though most didn't meet 'live' in person, they all started to get to know each other better, as the project was very engaging. The group was very diverse, much like all those different types of bees outthere.
The result: Wilde Bijen Parade
Hopefully, the book will help kids to discover the importance of bees. Part of the profit of the book will be donated to the Bee Foundation.
A peek inside
And the book also gives tips for fun activities, to keep buzzzy :)