Camille Martin grew up in the artistic milieu of Nancy. His father, Jacques, was a sculptor. From 1875, Camille was a pupil at the drawing school, where he was taught by Théodore Devilly. He won first prize in the Jacquot drawing competition in 1881 for his design of a decorative bowl, and went on to study for three years at the École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. At the same time, he took free classes at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he met up with his friend Friant.

From 1882, Camille Martin took part in art fairs in Nancy and then Paris. Critics took notice of his work, and the French state bought one of his paintings in 1884. He worked on painted decorations for the Majorelle factory in Nancy, to which he had returned when he finished his studies. Camille Martin then devoted himself first and foremost to painting: landscapes, especially, with a predilection for the Vosges and its forests, which earned him the nickname “the popular painter of fir trees”; genre scenes, often tinged with a latent melancholy; and portraits. His studio in the rue Isabey was described by Adrien Recouvreur in La Lorraine illustrée in 1910: “It is the most curious setting where every object shows the preoccupations of the young researcher. [...] A few oriental photographs, some rich, skilfully crumpled fabrics, some large copper pieces of Arab workmanship, many Japanese items, an old tapestry. Furs are spread out on the floor, and strange lanterns hang from the ceiling. Scattered skulls roll and grimace. One of these, carried high on a Japanese spear, is covered in the wig familiar to circus clowns.”

In 1888, the artist travelled to Egypt. This trip had no lasting influence on his work, apart from a few Oriental references that were later used in enamelled decorations. It was Japan that the artist turned to for answers to his artistic questions. The presence in Nancy of a Japanese artist, Hokkai Takashima, who had come to study at the École forestière, gave him direct access to knowledge of Japanese graphic practices. The autographed drawings they gave each other bear witness to the close relationship they forged, no doubt in the shop of bookbinder René Wiener. From the outset, the Nancy artist drew his inspiration from nature. His encounter with Japanese art enabled him to combine with his own sensibility the liveliness and lightness of the line, the taste for the captured moment, and the poetry in everything, essential notions of Japanese art. The high point of this aesthetic assimilation was undoubtedly the binding of L'Art japonais, for volume 2 of Louis Gonse's book.

In 1894, Camille Martin designed the poster for the first group exhibition of the future École de Nancyat the Poirel galleries. The diversity, originality and quality of his creations made him one of the most promising artists in Nancy's artistic scene. Along with his friend Victor Prouvé, he represented the modern concept of the jack-of-all-trades artist, free from the constraints and conventions of a single discipline and keen to experiment and embark on aesthetic adventures.

The tribute paid to him by Goutière-Vernolle in the Revue populaire des beaux-arts (19 November 1898) emphasised the artist's adaptability: “His spirit, curious about all beauty, led him to many undertakings [...] he was not ignorant of the technique of any art; he mastered it with disconcerting ease”. From 1893, his name was associated with the future of Nancy's decorative arts alongside Gallé and Majorelle: in collaboration with Victor Prouvé and René Wiener, he created several bookbindings that were presented in Paris at the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. The boldness of the undertaking was a revelation to the Parisian artistic and critical circles. In the field of leather, Camille Martin proved to be a bold visionary. In addition to sumptuous bindings, he also created wallets and desk pads for everyday use. This led to major commissions, such as official gifts for the Russian imperial visit. That same year, Martin and Prouvé won the competition launched by the city of Nancy for a monument dedicated to René II's victory over Charles the Bold on the Place de la Croix de Bourgogne, a monument that was never built. His interest in the application of art to industry, of which he was a fervent advocate, was demonstrated by his collaborations with local manufacturers on models for tableware and glassware.

Camille Martin's untimely death in 1898 and the dispersal of his studio left very little trace of his work. In 1899, a posthumous retrospective exhibition was organised by the artist's friends at the Salle Poirel. Émile Gallé bought a woodblock print and a print of L'Orée du bois. On this occasion, he published an article dedicated to Camille Martin in the magazine La Lorraine artiste, later reprinted in his Écrits pour l'art.