AN artist has found a creative way to “travel the world” during the pandemic.

Nick Sayers from Brighton has been documenting the lives of people around the globe amid Covid-19, while drawing their live portraits on Zoom video calls.

He aims to compare how coronavirus is affecting people across the world and learn how their societies and governments are coping.

Nick said: “I’ve been lucky to have travelled internationally with my science-inspired art projects.

“Since the pandemic this is no longer possible and the crisis has made me reconsider the environmental impact of flying.

“This project allows me to travel ‘vicariously’ and still meet with people around the globe while in lockdown.”

Nick, who began the Zoom portraits during the November lockdown, had previously been running a local version of the project during the summer, drawing socially distant portraits of his neighbours in the street.

Each two-hour Zoom session involves Nick having a conversation with his sitter while he draws their portrait.

He said: “As the project has progressed, I’ve been reaching out to people in countries where I don’t have contacts.

“I like the idea of six degrees of separation: we live in a very interconnected world and I’m hoping to reach more obscure places.”

The artist, who normally works in schools and at arts and science festivals around the world, has seen his income plummet amid Covid-19.

He is asking sitters for donations between £10 and £50 – but portraits are less than £10 or free for those in poorer nations and ten per cent of all his income will go to international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières.

To view Nick’s portraits, follow him on Instagram @nicksayers.