Without Ray Lowry one of the most visually striking record sleeves in the history of rock music would never have existed.

The cartoonist and graphic designer, who has died aged 64, was remembered yesterday by colleagues and admirers for the distinctive, dark illustrations that adorned publications from Oz and Private Eye to the NME over four decades.

Perhaps his greatest achievement rests, however, in an image that he did not draw: the cover of the Clash's 1979 album London Calling.

The photograph that dominates the sleeve shows Paul Simonon pounding his bass guitar into the stage after a show at the New York Palladium in September 1979.

Pennie Smith, who took it, thought that the shot was too grainy to blow up. It needed Lowry, serving as the band's “official war artist” on that American tour, to persuade her that it would work as a cover. Lowry then framed the shot with the words “London” and “Calling” in a typeface, colour scheme and design that recalled the sleeve of Elvis Presley's debut album, the underlying suggestion being that the Clash's music offered the same sense of swagger and danger that Presley's had 20 years earlier.

Smith's photograph was named the best rock'n'roll photograph of all time by Q magazine in 2002 because “it captures the ultimate rock'n'roll moment - total loss of control”.

James McMahon, features editor of the NME, said: “It's just an amazing image that on its own would win him a place in the lexicon of rock'n'roll dudes.”Apart from his connection with the Clash, whom he met in 1976 when they were supporting the Sex Pistols on the Anarchy in the UK tour, Lowry was best known for his work with the NME. His sketchy cartoons and illustrations, often enhanced with copious dark washes, were “part of the fixtures and fittings” in the magazine during the 1970s and 1980s, Mr McMahon said.

Richard Ingrams, the co-founder and long-time editor of Private Eye, remembered Lowry as “a really original cartoonist” whose work was surreal, artistic and beautifully drawn.

Peter Brookes, the Times cartoonist, said that Lowry “cornered the market” for music business cartoons. “His work was black, literally: dark and scratchy drawings that anyone interested in cartoons would recognise. And he was influential too.”

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