A comic book is being sent to schools and youth groups to encourage young people to visit a North-East art gallery.
The Hatton Gallery at Newcastle University has produced 30,000 copies of the Strange Cargo cartoon which are being distributed around the region.
The book was written and produced by cartoonists Simon Grennan and Christopher Sperandio, who have also produced work for New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and the Tate.
They have also worked with Gateshead's Progressive Players to produce an animated film for the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.
Strange Cargo includes a cartoon about children from Burnside High School, in Wallsend, visiting the gallery and trying to recognise well-known figures in the gallery's artwork.
Curator Lucy Whetstone, who commissioned the comic, said: "We felt that a comic book that showed teenagers' own experiences of our collections would be a really useful tool for engaging other young people. The Hatton is delighted with how the book has turned out.
"And it has been fascinating to see works like our Del Biondo altarpiece recreated in comic strip form."
The Hatton Gallery is open from Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Its summer programme opens on July 3 with an exhibition called Bad Behaviour.
Northumberland
