Before becoming a full-time artist, David worked as a gamekeeper and at Chester Zoo where he assisted in a monkey breeding project which enabled him to study animals closely. On a degree course at the Royal Academy of Art, David won the rare distinction of collecting anatomy drawing prizes from both the RA and the Royal College of Surgeons, as well as the RA Landscape Painting Prize.

In 1978 he was a member of the Wallace Expedition to the Amazon, working as the expedition artist producing drawings of fish and plants for the British Museum. David's work has been shown at the Royal Academy.

As a truly global artist, David has staged several shows in London and two major one-man exhibitions in South Africa where his tropical bird oil paintings are in great demand.