My name is Neal Berman and I’m from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I like to call myself an artist, but I wasn’t always that way. I could never focus in class growing up, so I would draw in my notebook to make my teachers think I was participating.

When I was 17 years old, I moved out of my house. Overlapping with that time, I was introduced to oil paints in my high school art class. That was when I first discovered my love for art, painting that blue dog “Casey”.

Oil painting was a bittersweet activity to me at first. I felt peace, but I thought it made me depressed. My dream was to be great runner, so I overlooked pursuing it at the time. I was recruited to run for the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and when I got there I mostly forgot about art for a while.

My first try at the steeple chase.

My dream of becoming a professional runner definitely didn’t work out. There were a few highlights, but none particular to my performance; I was on an NCAA championship team in 2011 and some of my best friends went on to be professional runners. The only thing I was ever famous for was crashing into the steeple chase.

My running career ended rather abruptly my senior season. My head was literally struck by a shot-put during practice, and the resulting concussion forced me to give up the sport. On the bright side, it inspired me to begin drawing again and realized that I was happier doing that all along.

I started painting again too…

It took me a while to recover from that concussion. Among the many many difficulties I had, it took me months before I could balance on one foot again. I was determined to make a full recovery so I taught myself how to skate.

I always admired the murals in Philadelphia growing up, and since I could paint again I wanted to move back to my home town and make some of murals my own.

Although mine aren’t painted by numbers or gridded for proportion, like most. I paint like I draw, so unless requested otherwise by my clients, I use exterior house paint and regular old brushes.

All my artwork is self taught, so my technique is far from traditional.

Recently I decided to start recording my process to show everyone how I do it.

It’s a strange thing being an “artist.” For some, once you catch the bug you’ll keep producing art for your whole life. For those like me, that motivation won’t land you a career or even any recognition for that matter. You might also realize that it’s not really possible to live off of medicaid, food stamps, and a $10 an hour job for your whole life. But it’s the stubbornness that pushes you to keep trying that makes you an “artist.”

I haven’t grown out of my stubbornness, and I probably never will. I decided to make a career as an artist whether anyone cared or not.

I taught myself web development, photography, clothing design & supply, and the legal side of trademarking and managing a brand. On the side, I worked full-time for a year as a landscaper in addition to my part time jobs, to save up the money to develop this company–Neal Berman Co.

Now you check out all the oil paintings I’ve created over the years (click for pictures details)

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and see my pencil drawings too

or even wear my designed clothing!

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