I know most of the Copenhagen art scene and the problems you describe are not uncommon at all. There are those who have had no artist in the family, no art, no books, but there are at least as many who did, and too much encouragement is just as hard to overcome as working class minority complexes it seems.

I had an artist in the family, but it was the alcohol abuse and suicide kind of story, so when I began my career it was on the ashes of something horrible.

I've been in the fine art department since I was twenty, but now now I am actually enjoying myself doing this pulp comic project under a pseudonym. Anonymity can be a very liberating thing...