Diana Castillo

Diana Castillo grew up in the colorful city of Havana and moved to Florida when she was very young. Having spent so much time surrounded by palm trees and beaches, Diana often jokes she’s a mermaid in disguise. She was artsy from a young age then grew into an avid reader, loving any stories featuring adventure, fantasy and female heroines.  

Diana earned her BFA in Illustration from Ringling College of Art and Design. Some of her prior clients include Disney, Universal Studios, Airbnb and Ravensburger. Her illustration experience varies from designing theme parks (Super Nintendo World-Japan and Orlando’s Volcano Bay) to toy design (Cocomelon) and tourism illustrations (Airbnb).

She most enjoys drawing cute kids from all sorts of backgrounds and designing the world they live in, whether it’s in a picture book or animated show. In her work she likes to focus on emotions, family dynamics and kids in motion.

Though she’s often lost in thought about new story and art ideas, Diana makes time to travel as much as possible. Seeing different cultures and cities is a huge inspiration for her work and character designs. Some of her favorite travel memories include seeing snow for the first time in Norway, cherry blossoms in Japan and the bright nightlife of South Korea.

Her free time is spent going on adventures with her service dog Guenevere, watching movies and trying to turn her legs into a tail, so she can finally return to her underwater palace.