well honistly i have never really looked into Art history all that much... most everything I have seen in it depresses me more then inspires..... I traveled around alot as a teen on my own "Homeless" but by choice you know. I wanted to see everything and learn from real people.. so most of my life was doing "Graffiti" and sketching.. It wasnt untill 2000 that i actually started to do conventional painting, and now i am the art director of a Kite boarding company in germany. I would have to say it is like a dream job, but not fully.. I want to create art, images for people to enjoy, love, and like, things that make people think. not just marketing tools to get rich.. so all in all, I just do it because i love it.. As for my actual start , it was my 6th grade art teacher... She said I had something different and told me to do graffiti, (Weird huh?) but i did and she helped me in realising that there was more then the great artist that the text books tell us.