After studying philosophy at the University of Sussex, Martin spent a number of years teaching English to foreign students. During this time he developed his own innovative, cartoon-based approach to language teaching, and wrote and illustrated a best-selling language teaching book, Making Sense of Phrasal Verbs. Other writing projects followed, including collaborating with Robert O’Neill on a screenplay and book for BBC English’s award-winning video course, The Lost Secret, which starred Miranda Richardson and Tom Wilkinson.

Alongside his writing, over the past 18 years Martin has built up a successful career as a cartoon illustrator, with a distinguished client list including Ogilvy & Mather, DMB & B, Arthur Andersen, McCann-Erickson, De La Rue, Lehman Brothers International and Oxford University Press.

Prior to setting up CreativityWorks with Martha Leyton in 2001, Martin had run workshops on cartooning and creativity for a wide range of clients, including Nottingham University, the Office for Public Management (OPM), Brighton College of Technology, Lewes Tertiary College, Sussex Directors of Studies Association, Lewes Prison, West Sussex County Council, and Surrey County Council.