Creativity & Corona Diaries
A C-Words Creative Conversation with Vic Lee, Artist.
December 2020
My professional relationship with Vic Lee now spans two decades, having initially worked alongside him as a freelance graphic designer in several London agencies. Over that time we’ve become good friends and it’s been particularly heartwarming to see him follow his passion and morph into the independent illustrator and raconteur genius he is today. In December 2020 I spoke with Vic Lee about his own brand of creativity, his Corona Diary book project, how he gets inspired and his enduring love of Northern Soul.
Please give a short introduction about yourself.
My name is Vic Lee and I’m an artist and illustrator from Peckham, South East London.
Describe how you work professionally?
Do you prefer to work alone or in collaboration?
I used to be a graphic designer for many years and I loved working with many different people in design studios. The banter and bubble of camaraderie — was great fun creatively and socially. Being an artist now, I have my own studio and it’s my sanctuary. It’s a place where I can play my music loud, dance around, make a mess and experiment. I don’t think I could share my space because I work so sporadically. But it’s great having friends in studios nearby to catch up with and have a moan to! I rarely work with other artists on projects because of the nature of what I do. I am very much old school when it comes to being commissioned — the client commissions me, not me plus a team of others. I pride myself on the fact that the work I create is 100% originated and executed by me. It’s important to me.
Where do you find inspiration?
Everywhere! We have the biggest source of inspiration available to us as soon as we open our eyes in the morning. Packaging, fauna, streets, litter, shops, the pattern of a random rug, even small details on the most mundane objects. We just don’t realise because we’ve become conditioned to pay galleries to get inspired.
Depending on how you look at it being ‘creative’ can be viewed as either a gift or a burden. Whilst creativity enables us to somehow produce the previously unimagined it isn’t always a ‘superpower’ you can draw on at will. What are your thoughts on this statement?
It’s neither really. For me it never felt given as a gift or a curse. It was simply a choice I made to be creative. If it makes you smile, how can it be a curse? I have always ‘made’. My Dad had a great shed, full of tools. He was an engineer and machinist, so was incredibly skilled with his hands. Plus we were from a poor background, so things were either mended, fixed and repurposed. It’s something that’s stayed with me. I recently found an old broken painted rocking chair on the street. I took it home stripped it, fixed it and restated it to its former glory. It’s beautiful and my daily chair now.
As a highly prolific artist, how do you maintain your own creativity?
Like many other creatives this year, due to Covid, has seen my work in murals and client commissions diminish rapidly. Rather than dwell and feel sorry though, I’ve been drawing, painting and doing my own thing. In my experience these moments often lead to new opportunities, and this is never truer than 2020. My work loss led to me creating a sell-out book and signing a book deal.
You’ve crafted a unique and powerful signature in your work without ever becoming formulaic. How do you keep your work fresh and exciting for yourself?
Always think ahead. My first artworks were London centric, limited edition prints of London streets, way before many others were doing London themed art. And I worked tirelessly to get them seen and my name to be associated with a particular style of illustration. Nowadays city art is everywhere, but I have stepped away from it. The murals came next, heavy type-based storytelling and now I am working on new projects. There are many out there who slavishly copy a certain style. For me it’s important to continuously adapt and change.
Your work is strongly typographic based. Do you custom design the typefaces you use in your murals? If so, have you considered publishing some of them as commercially available fonts?
Ooh no, I don’t have the patience to do typefaces! That’s a skill I don’t have. Best leave that to other craftspeople.
Vic Lee has a unique poetic tone of voice that characterises and underpins the visual work. Describe its character and how it was shaped?
It’s genteel. Playing with prose to make you think a little. To read a message that could be basic but is written in a way that is poetic. I often get asked by companies to do murals with their mantra, or how they think. This is great for presentations and Powerpoints, but you wouldn’t want it on your wall! I think I’ve become cheekier as an artist. I will tell a client their ‘words’ are boring and for me to say the same thing but with more charm. Fortunately my clients will generally agree, after a slight raise of the eyebrows!
Who are your creative heroes?
Have they influenced your work in any way?
Gosh, I’m not too sure really. I know so many creative people from so many different backgrounds. I can’t say one person over another. We all have things we are good at. I don’t really categorise people I admire by ‘design’ or ‘graphics’ for example as many I follow on social media might be artists, lawyers, teachers or even dentists!
You kickstarted your artistic career by creating ‘Londonereas’ editions — highly detailed screenprinted illustrations showing the daily life, architecture and businesses of particular London neighbourhoods as they are today. Do you update these from time to time?
On some of the more popular ones yes, but only two runs if they sell out. To see how areas change in a 2 year period is fascinating. I see much more in my surroundings now. How buildings come and go along with business’ and people. At times its quite saddening to see local areas stripped of their heritage and history for progress. I’ve heard so many fascinating facts from locals where they live that will eventually be forgotten if these stories are not told and retold. In my streets I hope I am keeping snippets alive for people to tell and retell. I recently created a version of the whole of London to showcase the diversity to be found across the neighbourhoods of this amazing city.
How long does it take you to create a ‘Londonerea’ illustration?
I start with photographing each shop and building, and then freehand illustrate each one, brick by brick. Alongside the buildings I also research areas and write a condensed history with wit and charm. Each artwork will take around 3–4 weeks.
You further established yourself as an artist through your distinctive take on mural art. Where did the idea come from to make murals?
I was asked! Simple as that really. A friend, who was commissioned to do a project for an architect, asked if I would like to do some murals. And I said yes. I had never done one before, but I thought ‘why not?’. It was for a company called Hailo at their HQ in London. It ended up being 5 murals! I had to ask some graffiti artist friends and muralists for advice. I remember standing in Hailo HQ with my bag of pens and the sketched design looking at the first wall for like 20 minutes, thinking ‘what the hell!’. It was a busy working office too, with staff walking around me, probably thinking ‘who’s this idiot?’ But then I started, and that first ink stroke on the wall was like a bolt of lighting. After that I never looked back.
Your work has been commissioned by many different brands and organisations. Without wishing to upset anyone which have been the most personally fulfilling commissions?
So many from so many angles. From a subject matter I would say two murals I inked for the University of Kent have been really personally fulfilling. One of Virginia Woolf and the other of Alan Turing as the subjects. The pleasure of researching and delicately illustrating their histories on walls was an honour. Remarkable people who played a pivotal role in how we live today.
All my clients have been incredible though — from the big guns like Nike and M&S to smaller local companies. I think for me I have to like my clients. There has to be a bond of humour and general niceness!
You were recently commissioned to create stage graphics for the stage show ‘Juliet’. How did this opportunity present itself and what did you create for the show?
I was asked by set designer Soutra Gilmore, who I’ve worked with before, to add typographic design to her ideas. We discussed all the elements, which over time grew! The name of the show ‘& Juliet’ is a nod to Juliets point of view and life if she decided to take a step back from Romeo. It’s a musical with songs by the incredible songwriter Max Martin.
The stage sets include enormous 3D letters of my typographic designs for ‘Romeo’ and ‘Juliet’, and I was given a free-rein to develop the look and decoration in my own style.
I was also tasked with creating huge maps of London, Verona and Paris which were projected onto the rear and sides of the stage area. Again I was given the freedom to do my own thing with the maps, and I researched and planned out the details of streets, buildings and POI’s. I also had to be a little creative with the maps especially Paris and Verona as they are taller rather than wider!
As the show took shape, there were many other aspects that I designed for the show, all the projected lettering and visuals and extra titles too. It actually became an incredibly huge task to stay on top of things.
Going to the premier of the show, it was only then how much I realised my artworks were such an integral part of the show. And to be honest the show is absolutely brilliant. I’ve now seen it three times!
Your work has taken you all around the world to create murals and site-specific artworks? Tell us about the highs and lows of international jetsetting.
I can’t think of too many lows to be honest. The fun of travelling to a new country, new experiences, meeting new people, it’s amazing! I think the only stressful thing, especially doing a mural, is getting timings right. It’s not as if I can pop back to San Francisco to finish off a mural if I go a bit over! I think as I’ve got older (and wiser) my sensible head is tightening down. I always cover myself with my equipment and split it up– two projectors, 2 sets of pens, 2 packs of inks, 2 bags of brushes. One I carry in my hand luggage and the other in my case. I lost part of my luggage once when I went to Thailand and ended up wearing my mates pants and tees for three days. Not so bad you may think, but he was half my size! I try and stay in Airbnb’s if I travel too, even in the UK. I love cooking and hotel food is great for the first day. But then it’s ‘oh god, not again.’ Plus I spend a LOT of time in my own space, so it has to be comfortable. A proper home from home.
Alongside coffee I’ve noticed that music, particularly Northern Soul,
fuels your working process in the studio. Indeed you are renowned for spontaneously busting some fine Northern Soul dance moves in the studio. Does music inspire you creatively? If so, what is it about certain types of music that compliment your work?
Ha yes, I have never taken myself too seriously. I laugh at myself before others can, it takes the insecurities away! During lockdown I posted a couple of films of me busting out some moves in the studio. I think it was a touch of cabin fever to be honest! I loved it, bunged it up on social media and it sort of blew up. Turns out there are a lot of Northern Soul boys and girls out there! Musics so important to me, whether it’s drum and bass, hip hop, jazz or folk. I never listen to podcasts when I work, it’s distracting listening to people talking. More subconscious tunes for me to get me in a calm space… or an uplifting one.
As a creative response to the Covid 19 pandemic you made a decision to channel your artistic skills into the glorious self-published visual journal ‘Vic Lee’s Corona Diary 2020’. What was your original intention for the journal and what has the response been to it?
Originally it was a personal journal. A way for me to engage my brain through illustration and understand what was happening in the world. So much news and so many horror stories were emerging, it felt like the end of the world. By illustrating it slowed my thought process down and helped me digest the news in a gentler way. The idea originally came from listening to my friends telling me how their children were getting anxious by the stories they were reading. More so than the adults. As a counter to this I put a short 6 minute film on my YouTube channel. The idea was to encourage kids (and adults alike) to keep their own illustrated diary as a way to digest news events in a more coherent way. I use social media heavily to share what I’m up to and also posted a 30 second film clip on LinkedIn of me turning the first 8 pages of my own diary and explaining why I was doing it. That video blew up! It had 250k views, 12k likes and 1000’s of folk telling me to publish the diary. To me it was odd — my personal thoughts on the news I read about, but people were also associating their own lives with it. So I self-funded and self-published an artist edition book with no external PR or professional help. The book sold all 2,500 copies in 8 weeks globally. Nuts!
And finally: What’s next for you creatively?
Who knows. I’m playing with some new ideas, but I can’t tell you about them yet. Otherwise some cheeky young blood will do them first!
About the author:
Graham Sturt is an English Creative Director based in Amsterdam.
Originally from England, he lived and worked in London for more than a decade before relocating to Amsterdam in 2007 to follow his passion for Dutch design.
