Illustration Portfolio

Click on images to see process work and more detail!

Design Portfolio

Click on images to see process work and more detail!

Hey there!

My name is Wil Van Dyne. I am a Milwaukee based illustrator and designer with a focus in book, poster, and packaging design. My work is commonly focused on biophilia and wildlife, YA fantasy, horror, and anything that highlights the beauty in the mundane. I like to create detail-rich illustrations with a focus on organic shape and textures. Recently, I have been working as a design intern at Discovery World where I am helping the team revamp their Great Lakes Future exhibit signage! I will be graduating with a BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design in spring of 2027.I am especially passionate about work related to nature, conservation, and dark fantasy horror. I’m a lover of tulips, biology, the pacific coast, and the color plum. When I’m not making art you can often find me slinging espresso at a local cafe, watching a
nature documentary, or planning my next trip to the outdoors. Feel free to reach out with any questions or inquiries at my email here.

Animals of the Galapagos

I illustrated this map with the intention of creating something simple and educational for elementary level children. I worked through several iterations that built on top of each other to create something bright and engaging while incorporating a lot of information.

Concept Sketches
Although originally drawn to concept 1, I pushed myself to reconsider concept 3 with a more intriguing use of the wide aspect ratio.

Tight Sketch
From here I decided to reconsider the numbering system as most animals are present among many of the islands. I instead decided to incorporate an information blurb to provide more context. I also decided to incorporate more environmental elements that simultaneously helped ground the image in space.

Grandma's Garden

Throughout a semester-long course during my Junior year at MIAD I worked on writing and illustrating a picture book titled Grandma's Garden. The story is geared towards children ages 3-5 and follows a young boy named Dylan. He is sent out to pick radishes from the garden but finds that he's shrunk when he gets there!

Thumbnails

Tight Sketches

Finalized Spreads

Character Sheets

Historical Recipe Illustration

For this assignment I was tasked to create an illustration uniquely depicting a recipe from a cookbook written in 1747. The recipe I illustrated was titled "To Pickle Codlings," and included instructions to gut baby cod fish and stuff them with garlic cloves and mustard seed. I approached this with a more painterly and ornamental style to nod to other artwork from that time period. This illustration was chosen as one of 15 to be featured in a booklet representing MIAD at the ICON13 Conference in Baltimore, MD.

Concept Sketches

Tight Sketch

Color Variations

Reworked colors to better match MIAD's schools colors for ICON13 Conference Booklet

Penfield Poster 2026

This poster was created for Penfield Children's Center's annual croquet ball fundraiser. The design was inspired by The Princess and the Pea to accentuate the theme of something seemingly small having a huge impact. This design was chosen for 2nd place from around 60 designs.

Concept Sketches

Tight sketches presented to client
They were interested in the first option with notes to make the croquet ball
smaller and work on the type treatment more.

Homebrew Coffee Co.

I created a fictional line of coffee bag designs inspired by TTRPG
and cryptids. Each coffee bag resembles a cryptid or folktale
from the coffee's origin country
with illustrations that match the
flavor profile of the coffee.

Concept Sketches

Tight Sketch & Color Studies

Logo Renditions

Mockup

SAVVA

This fictional line of specialty teas was inspired by jungle animals and corresponding tropical flavors. I focused on creating a cohesive yet adaptable brand identity with biophilic wrap-around designs.

Concept Sketches

Tight Sketch & Color Variants
From here I decided to lean more into the idea that the colors would represent a different time of day each tea may be drank at.

Beetle Booklet

This booklet was created to highlight various rare and colorful species of beetle and educate readers on their qualities and importance. I used a mix of Adobe Illustrator and InDesign to make this.

Where the World Ends

This jacket was created as a redesign of the original cover of Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean. The book follows a group of young men in the 1700s that are stranded on a sea stac while
bird hunting for the summer.

Concept Sketches

Tight Sketches & Type Variations
Chose a visually complex and contrastingly simple design to develop.

Color Studies
Decided on abnormally colored sky to accentuate eerie/isolated feeling.

Marquette Wellness Clinic Illustrations

I created five 24 x 36" natural scenery illustrations to be displayed in Marquette University's Wellness Clinic. They were interested in putting up calming scenes for students to look at while sitting in the waiting room. These illustrations were grouped into two sets, one of trees and the other of close-up florals.