Vojta Hybl
🎨 mixed media illustrator, writer, educator
🪨 geology • nature • timefulness
📍 Cairngorms NP
🏴🇨🇿🏳️🌈 he/him
My 1st book, ROCKS, coming March ‘26: geni.us/Rocks
Website + shop: vojtahybl.com/links
- This painting is a cross-section through a blanket bog: Sphagnum mosses carpet the dark peat below, which rests on metamorphic rock. It’s an archive of time: from minutes to billions of years. #sciart #natureillustration #illustration #gouache
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thank you! Really enjoyed working on this one :)
- Blanket bogs lie like giant duvets across Scotland. They developed on acidic rocks where incoming rainfall could not drain away. Only plants that thrive in acidic soils - such as Sphagnum mosses - can survive there.
- The waterlogged, oxygen-poor soil means that when plants die, they slowly turn into peat. Healthy peatlands store vast amounts of carbon but commercial cutting, burning and draining have degraded them. Dry, exposed peat releases CO2 back into the atmosphere, which contributes to the climate crisis.
- Ahh I wrote & illustrated my first book! It’s been a secret I’ve kept for over a year, but very excited to finally reveal ROCKS – published by @quartobooksuk.bsky.social in March 2026! You can pre-order from all the usual places here: geni.us/Rocks #SciArt #PortfolioDay #illustrator #BookSky
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thank you so much! Hope you’ll enjoy it :)
- It has over 100 different rocks: there are sections for igneous, volcaniclastic, sedimentary, metamorphic and anthropic (rocks influenced or made by humans) – something no other geology guide has. Expect ID tips, notes on its formation, and what that can tell us about the Earth’s geological past
- It also has non-standard guidebook features like: – the etymology of every rock name – a more philosophical take on the rock cycle – an entry on the confusing existence of dolomite (the rock) and dolomite (the mineral) – lithic mindfulness – sneaky Lady Gaga and The Weather Girls references
- POV: you are in Scotland but it’s 400 million years ago and also you are a tiny springtail #sciart #illustration #paleoart #kidlitart #natureart
-
View full threadNestled in a mountain valley were hydrothermal springs and geysers, not unlike Rotorua or Yellowstone today. This place was home to some of the earliest plants that made it onto land. There is even evidence of fungal mycorrhizae linked to plant roots – just like we see today.
- Rhynie Chert is also the oldest preserved terrestrial ecosystem. The hot, mineral-rich water erupted from geysers periodically coated anything it landed on. It literally petrified the plants, animals and fungi. Their tissue was replaced with silica, which even preserved the individual cells.
- Back then, Scotland was in the middle of a continent called Laurussia, also called the ‘Old Red Continent’ (because of the Old Red Sandstone, a type of rock deposited in rivers that’s a deep burgundy colour). The Scottish Highlands were *high* (think Himalaya). Oh, and there were active volcanoes.
- A very exciting #moth encounter in Edinburgh today: Clifden Nonpareil / Blue Underwing / Catocala fraxini The only record in Scotland according to @inaturalist.bsky.social!
- My first podcast appearance! Listen to me talk about rocks and art here: open.spotify.com/episode/1LBH...
- 🚨 NEW EPISODE OUT! 🚨 Our next guest, Vojta Hybl, @vojtahybl.com is a nature illustrator, artist, and geologist based in Scotland. Join us for S3 Ep3. Artists and Ashfall, as we discuss the power of art in science communication. #podcast #science #scientist #art #artist #stem #steam #geology
- It’s hereee! My popular geological #calendar is back for 2026 – you can pre-order it now: vojtahybl.com/shop/p/2026-... It isn’t your regular calendar, though. This is a journey into deep time: I took the whole timeline of the Earth (some 4.567 billion years) and condensed it into one year #SciArt
-
View full threadThe coloured bars underlying the dates correspond to the official chronostratigraphic chart, so it’s even easier to know where in the year / geological deep time you are on any given day!
- There is also a rock for every month to keep you company through the year! 2026 will feature metaconglomerate, komatiite, cross-bedded orthoquartzite, intrusive breccia, dunite, limestone, marble, agates and jaspers, blueschist, spherulitic pitchstone, geyserite and puddingstone 🪨 #illustration #art
- Each day of 2026 corresponds to 12,512,329 years of our planet’s geological history. I highlighted different geological events throughout the months to help you visualise the unimaginable timescales of deep time (it makes for a great science communication or educational tool as well) #geology
- My new illustration of an iconic tundra bird – the rock ptarmigan! It traces the colour of their feathers throughout the changing seasons #sciart #nature
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thank you! I am currently obsessed with ultramarine, so it features in most of my illustrations :D
- Come #sketch with me in my favourite place in Edinburgh, @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social! Starting with the best rock, orbicular granodiorite from Australia 🪨 #SciArt #illustration
- [Not loaded yet]
- This one is the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh!
- Really big lichens or a really small hiker? I’ll let you decide #illustration
- Cool cloud alert!
- You’re walking in the coastal saltmarsh on a crisp morning at the tail end of winter. As you peek over the grassy hummocks, you spot a lone curlew feeding in the morning mist. #natureart #sciart #illustration
- Leaf illustrations have grown in my sketchbook. Is this a sign of spring?
- Happy #WorldSeagrassDay! Here’s common eelgrass with a stalked jellyfish friend #SciArt
- Guess the bird I’m painting based on my colour swatches #SciArt
- [Not loaded yet]
- Ooh a kestrel? Now you’ve inspired me to paint some birds of prey
- It was a Eurasian jay indeed! (with a complimentary acorn)
- Grab your rocks and art supplies, and let’s experiment 🪨✏️ Our Patreon theme for February is rocks (of course) and we’re making marks inspired by geology! Available as part of the Map lichen tier: www.patreon.com/c/vojtahybl #SciArt #illustration #markmaking #geology
- Mark-making is something I love to teach during my in-person workshops. It is a great way to (re)discover your art supplies. But you can also use highlighters, pens and pencils from your stationery drawer – no need for anything fancy! Plus, who says mapping symbols are just for mapping 🤷🏼♂️
- Watery art! Loch Glencoul from my time in Assynt last summer – the vestige of a glacier ❄️ #illustration #map
- A little painting of a bleeding tooth fungus 🩸 #FungiFriends #illustration #gouache #natureillustration #SciArt
- This comb won’t do much combing anymore.
- Last but not least: Inuit snowgoggles ❄️
- Another page filled: a pottery fragment, a faience bead (an early precursor to glass), a key made from bone, a bronze brooch and a carving of a Viking ship. About 2,500 years of Scottish history covered on just one page ✏️
- Welcome to the early Kingdom of the Scots: an adorable bird figurine, three painted pebbles and a Pictish carving of a boar 🐗
- But today, I’m here for some less ancient history: let’s head downstairs to the Beginnings and Early People galleries. Covering everything from the first people in Scotland to 1,100 CE! Featuring: a Roman spoon, an arrowhead and a beard comb 🥄 #archaeology
- Two spindle wheels, a whalebone plaque and a bronze ingot join the page 🐋 Really enjoying working with this muted earthy palette!
- Lichens! I illustrated these as Artist-in-Residence @ Glacier Nat'l Park & Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park. One isn't allowed to collect specimens in a NP, so I noted the exact placement of the rocks bearing these specimens, brought them to my cabin to paint, then carefully returned them to their home. #sciart
- I love these!! The Rhizocarpon is my favourite 😍
- From a recent trip to Seaton Cliffs on the east coast of Scotland I’m obsessed with the Old Red Sandstone, just look at the colours! But had I walked here 400 million years ago, these rocks would just be forming and I’d be swimming in rivers. #SciArt #Scotland #geology #illustration #art #rocks
- Calling all artists and scientists! Do you want to elevate your field sketches? Or maybe you’d like to incorporate more science into your art practice? Join The Creative Geo Club on Patreon! 🪨🎨 www.patreon.com/c/vojtahybl Keep reading to learn more ⬇️ #SciArt #illustration #science
- [Not loaded yet]
- Thanks Frankie! You’re in luck because we’ll be doing exactly that in the Map Lichen tier over the next month: trying out materials we already have, thinking about what we might like to use and all that whilst drawing rocks! All very beginner-friendly 🪨
- [Not loaded yet]
- Aw yay, hello! The sci-art community here is amazing
- I believe that the best science (and the best art) is done when we expand our horizons and try something new. Both observe and try to make sense of the world – just imagine how much richer our understanding could be when we combine emotions and rationality, mind and body, creativity and research…
- This has been a long time coming and I’m very excited to see it grow!
- It is where science and art come together. Every month we’ll explore a different nature theme: it could be a rock, mineral, plant, fungus, animal, geological time period, place or process! We will dive into the science and engage with it in a creative way.
- [Not loaded yet]
- [Not loaded yet]
- Hahaha yes he does actually!
