Martin Eugene Mull was born on August 18, 1943, in Chicago, Illinois. His family moved to North Ridgeville, Ohio, when he was two years old, and later to New Canaan, Connecticut. Mull’s early interest in the arts led him to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in painting in 1967.