He worked as an illustrator with Rolls-Royce (Aero) Limited until 1969 and then moved on to the Ministry of Defence (Naval) and, later, MOD (Army) at Bovington where he was introduced to tanks and fighting vehicles. Unimpressed by the strictures of the Civil Service and the monotony of technical subjects he started as a freelance in 1980 and has not looked back since.

He has a lifetime’s experience of illustrating all subjects from technical works including: aircraft, ships, tanks, guns and military vehicles. These include coloured profiles, 3D views and cutaways. He wrote and illustrated “TANKS and Other Fighting Vehicles’ considered as one of the best books on the subject. He has illustrated over 200 books and part-works, including many books on mammals and birds. He has produced work for the Potteries including Wedgwood, Churchill, DecorItalia and Mason’s Ironstone.

Nowadays he prefers natural history illustration and has worked with Wildlife Trusts and the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council producing site artwork for many nature reserves. He has just finished writing and illustrating ‘Wildfowl of the Northern Hemisphere’ where he has painted 79 species, male and female, of whistling duck, swans, geese, shelduck and ducks, out-of- the-water and on-the-water. He has also explained the scientific Latin/Greek names of each of the species.

Ray is a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers