When the coronavirus pandemic began to take hold around the world, artist Vic Lee started chronicling the events from his South London home.

Rather than putting pen to paper and writing down words to describe what he heard, saw and experienced, he sketched. And he sketched. And he sketched.

Eventually, he shared a few photos on the professional networking site LinkedIn. Thousands of commenters encouraged him to publish his drawings, and he took their advice, choosing to self-publish and self-promote the book he called “Vic Lee’s Corona Diary.”

The 88-page book tells the story of the pandemic year — the highs and the lows, from clapping campaigns for front-line workers to toilet paper shortages and the vaccine rollout efforts.

Like many authors who published books in 2020, Lee wasn’t able to hold a launch event complete with champagne, canapes and people milling about. But, that didn’t stop him from publicizing the book, which he gave his own flourish from his home bathroom.

During the event, which he did live on Instagram, he said it was the perfect way to launch his project in such an usual year.