Lance Bell is a London-based, wickedly-talented graphic illustrator & visual recorder, who swears by (non-photo) blue pencils and Macintosh computers. The son of a Royal Air Force officer, he saw most of the world before the age of 15 – his nose stuffed in Astérix le Gaulois and Johnny’s Hart’s B.C. Comics, whose composite styles would ultimately influence his own.
Cartoons and comic strips are Lance’s bread and butter. Despite his precocious world travels, he believes “he got more inspiration and direction from the things he read.” After endless hours reproducing his favorite comics out of books, contributing his own “gag cartoons” to magazines during college, and creating graphics for computer games on home computers (we’re talking pre-Macintosh, folks, circa-Commodore ’64), Lance eventually landed a position at Reuters (now Thomson Reuters), where he helped develop their News Graphics Service, which would be a wholly digital platform – a pioneering operation of its time.
After 15 years in the press, moving his way up to Art Director and News Editor, Lance decided to shift gears. He leaped into the field of rich picture illustration and graphic scribing, which he recalls as a life-changing “breath of fresh air,” allowing him to synthesize his journalistic analytical mind and creative, ‘cartoon’ mind.
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In 2005 he founded VisualiseThat, where he lends his arsenal of skills such as graphic illustrating and visual recording to various industries, from pharma engineering to NGOs to logistics and many more.
“The main benefit of the work I do is helping companies communicate and understand their challenges.” – Lance Bell
Then Along Came Starfish Taylor…
Lance first connected with Chris Holy (founder of Starfish Taylor) ten years ago, but it wasn’t until 2017 that Lance finally came onboard with Starfish Taylor. Peter was running a Design Lab workshop, in Prague, Czech Republic, and it was Lance who held the magic wand of graphic scribing. He recollects it being a responsive environment, with an Agile dynamic, and a supportive team that both demonstrated and encouraged positive reinforcement. Lance has since continued to work with Starfish Taylor, illuminating the way companies communicate with his bevy of talents and expertise.
“Once you help people visualize and stop using everyday language, they uncover more.” – Lance Bell
Are you a visual storyteller, graphic illustrator, or creative scribe? Looking for a way to expand your horizons and the imaginations’ of some of business’s top thinkers? Get in touch with us to find out how.
