A confident draughtsman, using strong shapes and swaggering lines full of movement, Martin's images are straightforward, clear and affectionate He served as secretary to the Society of Wood Engravers, through which he met the artist John Buckland-Wright, who found him a post at Camberwell School of Art, where he was to teach for 27 years. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1965, and was head of graphic design from 1976 through his retirement.

His mother was an actress and this may have lead to a long series of prints of Hollywood actresses of the silent movie era. Martin, who continued working into his eighties, was an honorary academician of the Royal Academy and a member of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Florence.