Ed Martinez was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He went to the United States when he was five years old. He was the son of a commercial (graphic) artist, and his grandfather was an accomplished musician. When he was a boy, they used to go horseback ridding with his father. He learnt to draw pictures of horses from seeing them in real life. His love of art developed and when he was in college, he saw a show of children's book illustrators and knew instantly that he wanted to illustrate books. He attended the art school in New York City. After graduation, he has been illustrating books and magazines for children and adults. The artist lives in Connecticut in the small town of Kent. He likes to go out in his jeep to paint the cows, farms, and streams near Kent. He has been commissioned for a range of private and commercial projects, from portraiture and advertising to children’s books.
He especially likes to use oil paint in his work. Martinez’s works reflect a present-day view of subject matter, a particular attention to detail and records of present-day scenes. His clients include, among others, Lord & Taylor, Ralph Lauren, Dos Equis, Heineken, the National Labor Day Foundation and AT&T. His paintings have been used by numerous publishers, including William Morrow, Putnam, Harcourt Brace and Houghton Mifflin. The success of his illustration secured him an invitation to Washington D.C.’s Book Fair in Kennedy Center. Martinez does landscape commissions and paints portraits.
