Born in the early 60s (that makes me a baby-buster, NOT, I repeat, NOT a baby boomer), I like most of my age group am a victim of pop culture.  Among the first of the latch-key kids I was mostly babysat by the TV.  But it also meant I found my dad's collection of Esquire and early Playboys.  This is were I found the art of Vargas, one of the major influences for my pinup work. 
I originally got interested in Poser/Vue when I saw a lot of faery art work being done.  Now as a younger kid I had a huge collection of childrens books from the golden age of book illustration.  My faery art shows these influences - Rackham, Caldecott, Helps, Potter, et alia.
Born in the US I've since given up on that dump and moved to New Zealand -- not a utopia but no where near as totally sold out as America.  This also has had an influence on my work -- hard not to with the gorgeous vistas we have here -- Mountains & Sea and green green grass and trees. 
Beautiful as I found New Zealand, it didn't take long to realise I was a city mouse in a country mouse place.  I moved to Melbourne, Australia in 2008 and have found it a much better fit.