Eventually, he landed on the right art style, the right narrative voice, and when these two things were put together he was given some really great advice from an art director at one of the conferences. She saw a piece of his portfolio that she had liked because its style was different from the rest. She told Koehler to throw away everything in his portfolio but to keep this one sketch. The art director had pulled out the sketch of two elephants representing a dad and his son. She then proceeded to advise him to keep all the illustrations in the same style and to send it out on a postcard to all Koehler’s art director contacts. She then closed his portfolio and the rest well… is history, as they say. From there, the concept of How to Cheer up Dad was
birthed. A story inspired by his son Jack, then 18 months old. This takes us to the part of Koehler’s joy his inspiration, Abby and Jack, Koehler’s two children. You will find when reading How to Cheer up Dad that the story is about a grumpy dad and his playful son. In the book, One Day, The End, written by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Koehler’s illustrations were inspired by his adventurous daughter, Abby. His children, of course, are elated to know that they are in ‘Daddy’s books’ and often times remind him of their
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