David Lock – Designer

I've produced humorous illustrations for many UK Educational Publishers, mostly in ELT, and I can extract humour from a potato!

Overview

I see my job as surprising the author by drawing what he or she meant in just a few lines - and, hopefully, making them laugh. Essentially I'm thinking sideways, linking together the author's text with current news, literary references -whatever.

My working method is to carefully read the author's text, together with any guidelines they might add, and work up a selection of ideas (usually too many!) as ink or pencil roughs for him or her to look at.

I now work in Procreate, mostly.

Services

Illustration

Fiction

Children's

Languages

English

Work experience

Self employed

Self-employed

Jul, 2025 — Present

Most of my early work hs been for school books, mostly in ELT, where humour was needed: more recently I've been illustrating children's fiction, from early years to young adult.

Sole employee

Freelance Illustrator

Jan, 1972 — Present

These are some of the publishers and organisations I have produced artwork for: Mary Glasgow Publications (later taken over by Scholastic), Nelson, Pearson, Macmillan ELT, Heinemann ELT. Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Exley Publications, Letts Educational, and Chancerel Publications. Over the last few years (mainly in conjunction with Oxford Designers & Illustrators), I produced the artwork for a large number of books and posters for (Eire), where I was the principal conceptual artist on the 'Wonderland' and 'Wandsville'; series (author: Fiona Holmes). I have also worked for RoSPA (mainly on safety cartoon strips, which I wrote), the RLSS (safety posters), 'Woman' magazine, and a weekly cartoon for'Amateur Gardening'. Please note that at present I provide illustrations only, and not typography (unless a part of the artwork) or interior design.

David has 17 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Elizabeth C.

Jun, 2021

Pinned

David was extremely receptive to my ideas and changes I wanted to make. He was super-prompt and delivered ahead of schedule. He also explained the process to me so that there were no surprises. His work is excellent and he has a great sense of humor which is what I was looking for. He made exce...

Amit R.

May, 2021

Pinned

David really brought my story to life with his illustrations, and he was a pleasure to work with! I highly recommend him.

Brad E.

Jan, 2021

Pinned

Super happy with David’s work and collaboration. Excellence!

Reply from David L.

Brad was a pleasure to work with.

marlana S.

Mar, 2025

I cannot even put into words how happy I am with David's work. His illustrations brought my story to life.

Reply from David L.

I really enjoyed illustrating Mariana's quirky story, and the appreciation she conveyed at each stage made this project all the more enjoyable.

Jeff and Ashley W.

Oct, 2024

This was our second time working with David and he was absolutely wonderful, again. Professional, talented, and timely. We love his art and the life he can bring to a story. Highly recommend!!