About Mark



Mark Julien is a writer and illustrator based in Kingston, Ontario. He earned an AOCAD in Illustration from the Ontario College of Art & Design and a BDes from Thompson Rivers University in 1999.
 
He was a longtime contributing artist for Genre, Men's Exercise, and Exercise for Men Only magazines, illustrated greeting cards for Village Lighthouse, and illustrated a series of children's books for Curriculum Plus.

Mark later earned his B.Ed. in the Artist in Community Education program at Queen's University in 2008, and is an Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT). He taught visual arts and dramatic arts at the secondary school level with Limestone District School Board (LDSB) from 2008-2012.

Mark has been a guest speaker/instructor at Kingston School of Art, Queen’s Faculty of Education, and the Creative Arts Specialized High Skills Major (SHSM) program within LDSB. In 2019, Mark was the artist-in-residence at Camp fYrefly, Canada's only national leadership retreat for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-identified, two-spirited, intersexed, queer, questioning, and allied (LGBT2SIQQA) youth.

Justin Case and the Closet Monster: Hope was Mark's 2018 debut graphic novel, and was named one of the best LGBT graphic novels of 2018 by The Advocate magazine, nominated in 2018 for the Virginia Library Association’s "Graphic Novel Diversity Award", and nominated for the "Best Graphic Novel" by the Canadian Independent Comics Wiki Awards, also in 2018. 

In 2024, Mark followed up with a second graphic novel, set in the same universe, entitled Becoming Abel. In his review, author and critic Matthew Veseley wrote “…such unique illustrations, laugh-out-loud hits to the heart, and beautiful framing of the queer experience…For stories packed with monsters, both of Mark Julien’s tales radiate queer joy. And it’s something special”.