IPOH, Apr 28 — Who says being locked up at home during the movement control order (MCO) has to be boring?
For a Taiping-based architectural engineer at least, it has been an interesting use of his free time since the enforcement of MCO on March 18 to draw illustrations related to the situation.
Lee Yong Ooi said he would draw one a day, inspired by the daily press conferences by Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
“I will also watch the evening news before deciding on the idea for the day,” said the 42-year-old, citing an example for Day 41 where the resulting work was related to the Gerak Malaysia app.
The Gerak Malaysia app helps to facilitate Malaysians who are seeking police permits to travel across state borders to return to their homes or to return to their workplaces.
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Lee said his love affair with drawing started five years ago where he began drawing about his hometown Ayer Tawar and its famous delicacies.
“Aside from promoting Ayer Tawar, the drawings also help me to reduce my homesickness.
“Following the enforcement of MCO, I thought why not use art to jot down history... something like what newspapers and media do,” said the self-taught artist, who grew up on Hong Kong comics.
Lee, who uses a Facebook page to highlight his work, noted that his followers had steadily grown since he uploaded his MCO drawings, with some 3,123 followers to date.
“I plan to compile the MCO related drawings into a book and publish it after the order is lifted,” he said, adding that he spends about an hour drawing each picture.
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Asked which picture he spent the most time on, Lee said it was the Day 33 drawing that depicted the visit by the Chinese anti-Covid-19 medical team.
“I spent an extra 30 minutes from the usual one hour as I needed to draw eight persons in the picture and their facial expressions were all different.”
For a lighter take of the MCO with Lee’s drawings, you can head on over to his Facebook page.
