Martin Aveling

I was lucky to spend my childhood being exposed to incredible wildlife through the work of my conservationist parents. We lived in Kenya for many years, and before that in DR Congo. Whilst my parents were helping to protect critically endangered mountain gorillas on the steep forested slopes of the Virunga volcanoes, I picked up pencils and drew them.

We spent a lot of time in the field back then, and without a TV or other homely distractions, I spent a lot of my time drawing. Eventually I got pretty good, and it became one of my favourite pastimes. When it came to deciding what to do with my life, I didn’t like the idea of not drawing as much as I had been used to, so I made it my job.

I have always tried to use my art to help wildlife. Throughout my career I have raised over £50K for wildlife charities from artwork sales, and I coined the phrase ‘Wildlife Artivism’ to encourage stronger calls to action in our industry. I haven’t written a CV since starting this job, but in that time I have become a global ambassador for Derwent Art (the UK’s largest pencil producer) and I have been a finalist at ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year’ (WAY) 16 times. In 2024 I won the ‘Environmental Artivism’ category at WAY and I was also awarded the Inaugural ‘Art of Survival’ award by the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation in 2021. This was a career high, and I enjoyed another one when I was commissioned to produce the cover art for Derwent’s Pastel Pencil range – my favourite medium since i was 15 years old.

What I am most proud of, however, is the work I have done in promoting art opportunities for young people. In 2019 I helped establish the ‘Youth Exclusive’ category at WAY and secured the funding for the grant attached to it. The ‘Ingrid Beazley Award’ is a £5,000 annual grant designed to help wildlife, stimulate creativity and tackle eco-anxiety. In 2023 I visited a school in Kenya and promised the children that I would get them some art materials. I did some fundraising and persuaded Derwent Pencils to donate 50 pencil boxes. Now 12 schools in the Greater Maasai Mara are equipped with drawing pencils. I also helped establish an art hub at the Mara Training Centre where students can take part in free art workshops and have the opportunity to explore the wildlife that lives alongside them. In October 2025 I returned to the Mara where I hosted some workshops and took ten students out on their first ever safari.

I live in Bristol (UK) with my wife, Amy, our two children, Marella and Sonny, and our dog, Jack.