Neill Lowden was born in Edinburgh in 1959 and lived the early part of his life in a fishing village near Aberdeen. He began painting in oils at the age of eight and was taught privately by Anthony Butler and his father, Stewart Lowden. He went on to study at Falmouth School of Art and L'ecole des Beaux Arts, Orleans between 1977 and 1981.

At Falmouth, he was inspried by Ray Atkins, Francis Hewlett, Karl Weschke and Patrick Heron. He graduated with BA honours degree in Fine Arts and won the David Murray Studentship for Landscape Painting from the Royal Academy in the same year.