Since then he has illustrated for other authors, including Dan Gutman (The Christmas Genie), Barbara Jean Hicks (The Secret Life of Walter Kitty), and Anne Isaacs (The Ghosts of Luckless Gulch).

He spoke of the challenges of working on The Replacements, "Working creatively with a large corporation and numerous executives was rather frustrating because there was a feeling that there was a process of homogenization to try to appeal to as many kids as possible" and says he prefers the freedom of illustrative styles afforded by book editors.

[12] Santat is also a commercial illustrator, with such clients as The Wall Street Journal, Esquire, Village Voice, GQ Russia, Macworld, Macy's, and many others.

[13] In 2010 he turned down the opportunity to create Google Doodles not wanting to abandon his dream of making children's books.

[3] Santat lives in Southern California with his wife, Leah (a lab manager and technician at Cal Tech),[4] his sons Alek and Kyle, a bird, three dogs, and two cats.