Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to David Lobenberg. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

David, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

I was born knowing how to draw and spent my childhood periodically drawing landscapes, and portraits. In my late teens, I was also was fascinated with the weather i.e. clouds, weather systems, and weather instruments. By the end of my senior year in high school, the school administration designated me as one of the top twelve graduating students because of my high school related art activities. During my junior and senior years, I was a volunteer weather observer for the U.S. Climatological Service.

The craziness began when I entered UCLA with a major in weather. In my first semester as a freshman, I flunked out of Integral Calculus and Quantum Mechanical Physics. These are not items that TV “meteorologists” need to know, and I certainly found out that I had zippo ability in this respect! So I began my life-long journey into the field of art by asking the good people in the UCLA College of Letters and Arts if I could re-enroll as an art major. After a series of IQ tests and me taking two summer courses at my local community college, I succeeded in coming back to UCLA and earning both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in fine art. I eventually segued into the field of graphic design working for a few years as a full time employee and after as a freelancer working for various design and advertising companies.

David, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

In my career as a graphic designer and business owner, I worked on avariety of projects ranging from company/corporate logo development,newspaper/magazine advertising, annual reports, brochures, catalogues,
posters, billboards, packaging design, and commercial illustration. Some of my most enjoyable projects were within the field of commercial illustration where I could exert my drawing and painting skills. Around 1990, I received a phone call from Maria Shriver in Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s office at the California State Capitol. She had seen a watercolor painting that I created for the cover of a local neighborhood newspaper in Sacramento, CA. The painting depicted the Capitol building at night with the annual state Christmas tree in front it. Maria wanted to know if she could have permission to print this scene on the cover of a greeting card to be sent out to military personnel serving in the Middle East. Attached inside the folded greeting card would be a telephone card good for one free call to home and family during the winter holiday season. Wow! What a great idea. I gave Maria’s office a one-time reproduction right. Following this project, I started to receive other painting assignments to be reproduced as posters for The Olympic Track and Field Pre-trials in Sacramento, a Sacramento U.S.A. Gymnastics event, the U.S.A.F. Thunderbirds flying team alumni association, the Amgen Tour of California, and a limited edition print for the 2001 NBA Sacramento Kings just to name
a few.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Around the mid to late 1990’s, and while I and my wife were self-employed operating Lobenberg Graphics, health insurance rates were skyrocketing into the stratosphere! This obviously adversely effected our income stream big time. We were at a loss as to what to do. One day while I was mowing the front lawn at our home, a good neighbor across the street came over to chit chat. During our conversation, he mentioned that his community college alma mater had a part time employment position to fill. The art department needed an adjunct art professor. Several days after our chat, I
set up an appointment for an interview with the head of the college’s art department. My master’s degree qualified me to fill the position! They were also looking for an artist with a business background. I certainly fit that bill. I was hired! As a college employee, my wife and I got affordable group health and dental insurance. I now had three income streams: Lobenberg Graphics, my community college employment, and periodic art workshop teaching gigs that I started doing at a local art supply store. My community college career lasted from 2000 to 2017 before I retired from it. My wife and I also closed Lobenberg Graphics in 2017, because all signs were pointing to a new phase in my artistic career. I set my sights on growing an independent art workshop teaching business. I knew that there was a workshop teaching industry out there in the market. During the pre-digital age, workshop teachers were well-known entities with strong track records in book publication and exhibiting. If one did not have these specific qualifications, one had little success. The good news for me in 2017 was that thanks to the internet, those gate keeper qualifications were no longer necessary. The time had arrived for another life-style change. So here is how I went about it: As an adjunct art professor, I was allowed to rent for a beautiful state-of-the-art, art studio for a day. It was located at one of their newly built satellite campuses. This occurred during my last semester teaching at the college. I commissioned a videographer/editor to
shoot a short promotional piece for me at this studio. I first lined up about fifteen of my past college students to participate as “workshop students” for the shoot. The video emphasized me in the act of teaching and interacting with the students. Several weeks later, I received the final cut. I added it as a YouTube link on my email workshop solicitations for teaching gigs across the United States and Canada. I sent out hundreds of these emails and started pulling in business right away! I successfully launched an independent art workshop career! It all came crashing down during the Covid pandemic! While sheltered in place and with ample time on my hands, I learned how to produce video
lessons on my computer and started producing online art courses. Post pandemic, I currently teach in-person workshops, online art courses, and periodic workshops through Zoom. Through these venues, I also manage to sell some of my original art. I started out as a child drawing and have come full circle, if you will, to being a full-time artist and art instructor! The foundation through this whole journey has been built upon not being afraid to confront challenges, taking advantage of new opportunities as they come into view, and to be willing and able to stay light on my feet and enjoy the ride!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective way I have built up my clientele is to first define my business and then list the ways I can apply it to
potential clients. An excellent mission statement comes from my latest enterprise as a workshop instructor: “Teach the art of watercolor painting in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step process, within a relaxing, encouraging, and fun learning environment.” Once this mission statement was established, the next step was to determine what watercolor learning venues were out there in the marketplace and how best to communicate what I had to offer to them. I used direct emails, referrals, and cold calls. As well, I had to set aside blocks of time away from by business for advertising such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, my LobenbergArt.com website, and monthly workshop newsletters. Though technology has changed over the years, the basic combination of a strong, to-the-point message followed up with ongoing advertising has stood me in good stead.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lobenbergart.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.k.lobenberg/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DavidLobenberg
• Other: https://www.pinterest.com/davidklobenberg/
  https://courses.lobenbergart.com/store