London artists’ hand illustrated Corona Diary goes global

September 2, 2020

When artist and illustrator Vic Lee lost his financial lifeline during the coronavirus pandemic, he started a personal diary about his experiences during lockdown from his South London home. Little did he know in May, that this diary was to become a self published best-selling piece of history, that would sell 2,500 copies globally within months of putting pen to pad.

I discovered Vic in 2019 after a colleague shared images of his large scale illustration work on LinkedIn. He hand draws giant murals from scratch creating wondrous, impactful ‘urban style’ designs with typography and illustration intertwined. It was (still is) THE BEST hand drawn art I’ve had the pleasure of viewing to date.

I ‘followed’ instantly to inspire my feed.

Due the loss of future contracts as he was unable to work in communal spaces, Vic began to publicly share his hand drawn musings about his experience of lockdown.

The more magical artworks he shared, the more people commented on his raw talent and I felt incredibly excited as I and hundreds of others across LinkedIn and Instagram repeatedly suggested he print his diary for sale.

A long story shortened (and I’m sure hundreds of research and planning hours later), Vic soon announced he’d be crafting his first ever limited edition of the Corona Diary. I jumped at the pre-order invitation to be one of the first to own this incredible piece of history.

Vic continued to graft whilst sharing his progress online and almost miraculously before real time could allow, a beautifully bound copy popped through my door.

The spot UV (gloss print) front cover alone is a work of art (and strokeable – fellow creatives will get this) and each of the 90 pages is packed with an illustrated story of COVID-19, covering six months from the initial reports about a virus in Wuhan, through to the height of global lockdown. It includes politics, facts, personal opinions, humour and most importantly, great art.

And just when I thought this project couldn’t get any better, Vic announced he was donating £5,000 of his profits to Fareshare (charitable surplus food redistributor) as well as gifting copies of the diary to key workers.

Admirable work.