Samantha Jo

Samantha Jo – Designer

Children's Illustrator and designer specialized in colorful, whimsical illustrations with experience from Disney.

Overview

Hello!

I'm an illustrator based in California. I've worked as a production artist for companies like Walt Disney Interactive, RockYou and Jam City. Now, I am a freelance illustrator specializing in children's books, education, games and character design. My latest book "The Colorless Chameleon" is a visually engaging story that is earning positive reviews!

What I love about my work is to find creative solutions and create a visual language that can be recognized across the globe. Functionality, design, and humor are my main goals.

In my spare time you can find me hiking the trails, crafting a fun project, or whipping up tasty recipes. My personal work is inspired by folk tales, nature and places I have traveled. I hope that through my work I can keep those stories and places alive.

Services
Non-Fiction
Children’s Non-Fiction
Fiction
Picture Books
Languages
English

Work experience

Book Buddy Media

Jun, 2023 — Present
Manage freelance illustrators and liaise with clients to ensure consistency is maintained throughout children’s books. Provide art direction to illustrators, and work with the design team to create a cohesive end product while reaching deadlines.

Self-employed

Aug, 2018 — Present
Freelance designer/illustrator for advertising, animation, books, entertainment, education and gaming projects. Clients: Unicef, Heinemann, Mossflower, Bechmark, TCM, Lerner Publishing, Pacific Learning, Book Buddy Media, Fly Five, SurpriseHR, Smiletime Inc, Zaner-Bloser, Room to Read, Weeva Kids, All Together Labs, Libertad Creativa, Luminous US, Richter Games, Cetati Studios, IXL Learning, Paper Culture, Zynga, Jim Keeshen Productions, Munchkin Entertainment, Chapter 11 Studios

Jam City

Aug, 2016 — May, 2018 (over 1 year)
Concept and production of art assets for casual mobile games. Environment play space designer. Art Lead assistant in several management tasks such as running Jira, attending meetings with the team leads, fulfilling art requests, managing the art schedule in house, outsource, and art direction.

RockYou Inc.

Oct, 2014 — Aug, 2016 (almost 2 years)
Concept designer and production artist for casual mobile games (Maps, backgrounds, icons, marketing and UI). Art supervisor to the outsourcing team: reviewed art, managed production schedule, trained the team on the art work flow, pipeline and style of the game.

Walt Disney Interactive

May, 2011 — Oct, 2014 (over 3 years)
Concept design and production of art assets, icons, marketing art and UI for casual mobile games.

Portfolio

Cover Design Illustration
Made with Reedsy
Together We Rise: A Gentle Celebration of Earth & Us

Vinson, Michael Louis

Michael Louis Vinson

Cover Design Illustration Typography Book Interior Design Production Management
Illustration
Illustration
This Little Piggy (Exploration Storytime)

Samantha Jo Phan

Shell Education Pub

Illustration
Illustration
We Listen at the Zoo! Do You? (Adventures of the Center City Kids)

Jazmine Franklin

Center for Responsive Schools

Illustration
Art Project Partners (Adventures of the Center City Kids)

Anjail Kenyatta

Center for Responsive Schools

Illustration
Cover Design Illustration Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
What Mom Would Say: "A Story about Grief"

Yancie, Lori

Cover Design Illustration Book Interior Design
Made with Reedsy
Keys to Your H.E.A.R.T.

Burke, Chloe

Cover Design Illustration
The Sneaky Snake

Islands, Sandy

Cover Design Illustration Book Interior Design

Samantha has 3 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Michael V.

Michael V.

Aug, 2025

Samantha was a joy to work with on this project at every turn. Her artistic vision and professional expertise were invaluable throughout this process. She brought her tremendous skills to this project in a way that exceeded my wildest expectations. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work...
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Samantha J.
What a pleasure working with Michael! He was clear about his vision and gave me the creative freedom to develop his book. There was minimal back and forth and he was very respectful of my time and ...
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LaRanda B.

LaRanda B.

Dec, 2022

Samantha is amazing to work with and incredibly talented. She brought my book to life and really helped make the vision I had in my head a reality. She provided weekly updated illustrations to review and provide feedback on, and stayed on track throughout. She finished on our agreed timeline for ...
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Samantha J.
"It was truly a joy and honor to collaborate with LaRanda. She knew what she was looking for with her book, gave me solid directions and reference from the start. Her ideas and suggestions helped m...
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lori Y.

lori Y.

May, 2022

It has been a pleasure working with Samantha. From the beginning Samantha and I set up a Zoom meeting to introduce ourselves. She gathered information about me and my vision for the book. When I saw the first flat plan I knew she understood my vision. She has an eye for balance, color and layou...
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Samantha J.
Lori is wonderful to work with. She was very communicative about her ideas, vision and provided me with picture reference so I can get the character likeness right. Thanks to her the project went s...
Read more

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