It’s a hot Thursday afternoon in downtown New Orleans, and like many others in the city, Lionel Milton is working. Milton isn’t working in a fifty-story office building, but in his Magazine Street gallery. Milton is a local artist who has won national and international acclaim with stints on MTV and in Rolling Stone Magazine. Lionel Milton, as he put it himself, is a really happy guy with a life that’s not all that complex. He’s a guy who enjoys Playstation and says his greatest pieces of artwork are his children. He said his greatest inspiration is music, which can be seen throughout his artwork. Milton’s life reads like a Cinderella story: poor kid from the Ninth Ward grows up to become an acclaimed artist. Sounds pretty cut and dry, but there is more – a lot more. From an early age, Milton said, he knew he had a special gift. “I was born to do what I do. I say God discovered me,” he said. Born in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward, Milton grew up tagging walls around the city with his graffiti name, “Elleone.” At a certain point, Milton said, he realized that he wanted to do more with his talent than just tag walls – he wanted to do something he could be proud of. He stopped tagging and started entering every art contest thrown his way. But he didn’t just enter them – Milton won almost every one. When Milton was fifteen, a new group called Ya/Ya (Young Aspiring/Young Artists) noticed his talent and asked him to participate in its program. He became one of the founding eight members of this now-acclaimed group. Ya/Ya was like a fairy godmother to Milton. But instead of taking him to a ball, Ya/Ya took Milton around the world to showcase his art. As a teen, Milton visited places that most kids his age only dreamed of visiting. On a Thursday afternoon he would be in class, and by Friday night he would be in Paris showcasing his art. He even had the opportunity to spend a summer in Italy studying art. “It was the greatest experience of my life. It was like Manudo for art,” Milton said. In the program, he honed his graffiti skills and learned how to create murals and artistic furniture. The program helped make him the artist that he is today, he said. Ya/Ya helped give Milton a platform from which to work. It helped him gain credibility. He went from tagging walls to being featured in Rolling Stone and on MTV. In addition, he has done work for Burger King, Harrah’s Casino, Fox TV, No Limit Records and The Source magazine. He also has begun his own company, which he named “Elleone” after his tag name.He recently launched his own Web site, which allows the viewer to look at Milton’s art as well as give feedback to the artist. He has come a long way since tagging walls in the Ninth Ward.Most recently, he was featured on “Real World New Orleans.” He became and remains friends with the highly energetic Melissa. One of his first appearances on the show was when he went over to the Real World house to lend his talents in fixing Melissa’s rocking chair. He also helped her learn to express herself in her art. “Melissa’s just a cool chick,” he said. MTV was different from anything else he had ever been involved in, he said. For four months he got to experience what it was like, as Melissa called it, to have “invisible friends.” Those friends were the production crew that neither could acknowledge ever existed. Those “invisible friends” helped Milton reach an audience that he may have never been able to reach. Milton said that after the show he received a lot of e-mails from kids saying how much they liked his artwork. “People have really gotten into my art since the show. The art kind of represents the hip-hop generation that’s out there right now,” he said. “It represents what’s going on. I hope my artwork sparks something inside them.”The hour-hand on Milton’s clock is far from midnight. His ball has just begun. With the success of his Magazine Street gallery and the launch of his new Web site, Milton’s career is blossoming. In the future, Milton said, “I want my animation to grow. I see a long road ahead of me. My whole goal is anonymity present with longevity.” And when asked if he had any advice for aspiring artists, he said, “Nike said it best – just do it! Art’s going to treat you like you treat it. You have to be real with it.”