We had the good fortune of connecting with James Koenig and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James, why did you pursue a creative career?
For my entire life, I’ve loved drawing. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t do it. From an early age, I could be found doodling at my desk in my room, at the kitchen counter, in the car, or while sitting in church service. If I could find a paper and pencil, I’d be drawing. I remember having a love specifically for characters very early in life. My grandmother talked about a Mickey Mouse drawing I created when I was three. My passion for cartoon characters kept growing from there. All throughout elementary school, I would draw my favorite cartoon and comic book heroes. I also began developing my own characters. I drew everything from humorous bugs and giant beasts to aliens and superheroes; there were also dragons, robots, animals, and plenty of weird stuff. I also found great inspiration from studying nature and enjoying films and TV shows (like Disney classics, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars, and the early Pixar films). Because of my love for drawing and also animation, it was a natural progression for me to move towards a career in the arts. Once I discovered that there were careers out there for people who loved to draw, there was no turning back.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Since 2002, I’ve had the opportunity to work in many different art jobs, from vector art to video games and screen print design, and even toy design! In fact, one of those jobs gave me the opportunity to get paid to draw anything and everything you can think of! By the time I left that job, I had drawn an estimated 10,000 images. All those jobs stretched me in many ways and prepared me for moving into full-time work for my own business, Freelance Fridge. Getting to a point where I could run just my own business wasn’t easy. I pursued freelance part-time for 13 years, and we had attempted full-time freelance 2 times before my wife and I figured out what really worked best for us. A big part of that was learning to listen to my wife and bring her in on the business more and more. Two heads are better than one! We learned where to pivot and pursue different art industries. Now I can say gratefully that we’ve worked Freelance Fridge exclusively for over seven years now and are so grateful to get a chance to not only help others’ dreams come true, but grow our own dreams as well.

What I’m most proud of are the personal children’s books and art books that we have been publishing. You can see those books on our website at: www.freelancefridge.com/shop (along with many of the books I’ve created for clients too!)

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
So you’ve read enough of this interview that we’re friends now, right? Here’s what we could do together for a great day…

For breakfast, I’d take you to Black Rock Coffee for a great coffee, and then swing into Bosa Donuts for a egg & cheese croissant sandwich and a donut. Any donut you’d like!

After that we would catch the latest animated movie at Regal Theaters.

For lunch, we would go to Sal’s Gilbert Pizza for their great lunch special. Best pizza in the valley!

Then we would drive into downtown Gilbert and swing into Rocket Fizz. They have practically any candy you can think of, and lots of fun beverages too!

From there we would head into Mesa and spend some time in the Book Gallery off Main Street. You’ll love the smell of all the old books and I’m sure you can find a special book you can’t get on Amazon or anywhere else.

If we have time, we might go in the Arizona Museum of Natural History and see some dinosaurs.

Then we would head back into Gilbert and catch dinner at either Joe’s Farm Grill or Senor Taco Express.

We would end the day by walking the beautiful Veteran’s Oasis Park at sunset.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
The biggest shoutout needs to go to my lovely wife, Corissa. We have been married for over 17 years and her love, encouragement, and support through the years has been incredible. She has been there for me in the times that I beat myself up as an artist and the times when my ego needed to be taken down a notch or two. We have overcome great challenges over the years as we grew our business from part-time to full-time and all the ups and downs in between. Also, so many of the BEST changes to our business have come from her ideas. Her outside-the-box thinking has led to some amazing discoveries with how to better build our business and also how to meet the needs of our clients even more. And lastly, as we have been growing our own product lines and that side of our business, Corissa has led the charge to make sure each one of our books and products are the very best they can be, and that each customer has a great experience.

Website: www.freelancefridge.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freelancefridge/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-koenig-7644a05/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreelanceFridgeArt/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQOA44ihLo3PYypVSUzi4g

Other: James Koenig’s Illustrated Books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07SHVYD1C/allbooks?&_encoding=UTF8&tag=freelancefrid-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=baed3444960e7c92a786b219e52b6f62&camp=1789&creative=9325

Image Credits
All images copyright James Koenig – Freelance Fridge, LLC

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