Vojta Hybl
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vojtahybl.com
Vojta Hybl
@vojtahybl.com
410 followers 170 following 60 posts
🎨 mixed media illustrator, writer, educator
🪨 geology • nature • timefulness
📍 Cairngorms NP
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇿🏳️‍🌈 he/him

My 1st book, ROCKS, coming March ‘26: https://geni.us/Rocks
Website + shop: vojtahybl.com/links
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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.
A close-up photo of a burgundy red Sphagnum moss
December 28, 2025 at 9:57 AM
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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
A gouache and coloured pencil illustration showing a cross-section view of a blanket bog. On top are living green and red Sphagnum mosses; in the muddle a dark brown layer of peat; the bottom shows a stripy grey and light layer of folded metamorphic gneiss.
December 28, 2025 at 9:57 AM
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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
Two book spreads. Above, featuring PEGMATITE on the left and PERIDOTITE on the right. Below, a landscape illustration of a lava flow and a volcanic eruption in Iceland
October 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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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
A book spread featuring PLASTIGLOMERATE on the left and PYROPLASTIC on the right
October 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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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
A beige book cover with a grey rock in the middle cut by white streaks. The title says ROCKS, below, the subtitle is A Guide to the Stones Around Us and the Stories They Tell, Vojta Hybl. Illustrations of rocks surround the cover.
October 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
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Painted some mushrooms for #UKFungusDay!

#sciart #fungi #illustration #natureillustration #gouache
A hand holding artwork featuring three fungi. On the left is a fly agaric with a bright red cap and a white stem. In the muddle is a bitter beech bolete with a brown cap and an orange-pink stem. On the right is a brown birch bolete with a brown cap and a white stem with spots.
October 4, 2025 at 1:32 PM
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POV: you are in Scotland but it’s 400 million years ago and also you are a tiny springtail

#sciart #illustration #paleoart #kidlitart #natureart
A gouache illustration of the ecosystem of Rhynie Chert in Scotland. In this illustration are a few inhabitants of ancient Rhynie: Asteroxylon (a green club-like plant) and Rhynia (plants with pink tips, where it released spores from) on land. In the water on the right, two red, shrimp-like Lepidocaris rhyniensis swim around Palaeonitella algae. They grow on top an older, already petrified ecosystem – the dark shapes are the solidified plant stems so typical for Rhynie Chert. In the background are reddish mountains and a grey, rainy sky.
October 1, 2025 at 3:32 PM
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A very exciting #moth encounter in Edinburgh today: Clifden Nonpareil / Blue Underwing / Catocala fraxini

The only record in Scotland according to @inaturalist.bsky.social!
A deceased beige-grey moth with black and blue underwings lying on wet pavement. There is a thumb holding their wing down. A deceased beige-white moth lying on their back on wet pavement. They have darker line and spot markings on the wings.
September 13, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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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
An calendar open on February. The top page features a colourful illustration of a komatiite rock on a light background. The dates on the bottom page are underlain by pink bars.
July 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM
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The 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!
An calendar open on December. The top page features a colourful illustration of a puddingstone rock on a black background. The dates on the bottom page are underlain by colourful bars.
July 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM
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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
A close-up of a calendar page for August. The dates are underlain by a pink bar. On the 9th, there is an event titled ‘the Boring Billion begins’. On the 17th, there is an event titled ‘multicellular life evolves’.
July 19, 2025 at 1:28 PM
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My new illustration of an iconic tundra bird – the rock ptarmigan! It traces the colour of their feathers throughout the changing seasons

#sciart #nature
A gouache illustration of a male rock ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) sitting against ultramarine blue sky. There are four windows showing the bird change the plumage colour with the seasons. In autumn, they are grey to blend in with the rocks. In winter, the feathers moult into a snowy white. In spring and summer, the colour transitions into a mottled grey-brown to hide them in vegetation.
July 15, 2025 at 9:58 AM
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Really big lichens or a really small hiker? I’ll let you decide

#illustration
A gouache illustration of boulder covered in bright green, white and mint green lichens. A tiny person with a backpack is walking on the boulder as if it was a hill. #sciart #gouache
April 20, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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Cool cloud alert!
A grey, wavy cloud covering the whole sky. Light passes through it in places, creating lighter patches and a very dramatic look.
March 22, 2025 at 5:27 PM
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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
A mixed media illustration of a curlew in a coastal mudflat. The sky is pink and grey, its colours reflecting in the water. The scene is framed in the foreground by dark green grassy hummocks.
March 21, 2025 at 4:16 PM
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Leaf illustrations have grown in my sketchbook. Is this a sign of spring?
A sketchbook page with gouache and coloured pencil illustrations of leaves of plants found in the Caledonian pinewood. Starting on top, clockwise: alder, wavy hair grass Scots pine Scots pine, twinflower, eared willow, blaeberry, rowan, wood sorrel, downy birch, Scots pine again, juniper, holly,bog myrtle, sessile oak, common heather. #SciArt
March 9, 2025 at 2:49 PM
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Happy #WorldSeagrassDay! Here’s common eelgrass with a stalked jellyfish friend

#SciArt
A hand holding an illustration of seagrass with ten green leaf blades pointing to the right. A small reddish stalked jellyfish is attached to the bottom leaf on the right.
March 1, 2025 at 3:08 PM
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It was a Eurasian jay indeed! (with a complimentary acorn)
A gouache painting of a Eurasian jay holding an acorn in her beak. To her right is a pencil sketch of a lichen. #SciArt #gouache #illustration
February 25, 2025 at 9:28 PM
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Guess the bird I’m painting based on my colour swatches

#SciArt
Gouache and coloured pencil colour swatch: it’s made of large blocks of pale yellow-brown and dark grey, a smaller field of warm pale grey, and a small striped blue detail. All colour typical of a certain bird species. #SciArt
February 25, 2025 at 3:49 PM
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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
A hand specimen of white and black banded Lewisian gneiss lying on top of yellow, brown and blue background full of various marks made with different art tools.
February 20, 2025 at 7:46 PM
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Watery art! Loch Glencoul from my time in Assynt last summer – the vestige of a glacier ❄️

#illustration #map
A sketchbook laying on brown rocks alongside a tube of paint. It features a blue painting of a tidal loch with ripples. #SciArt
February 13, 2025 at 9:31 PM
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A little painting of a bleeding tooth fungus 🩸

#FungiFriends #illustration #gouache #natureillustration #SciArt
A scientific illustration of a bleeding tooth fungus (Hydnellum peckii) on a woody background. The underside clearly shows the “teeth” which are actually where the spores are released from. The fungus forms mycorrhizal relationships with conifers – in Scotland, it is found near the Scots pines of the Caledonian Forest.
February 12, 2025 at 4:20 PM
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Last but not least: Inuit snowgoggles ❄️
A hand holding a small sketchbook with illustration of two snowgoggles. They both have two narrow slits to avoid snow blindness.
February 5, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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This comb won’t do much combing anymore.
A pencil sketch illustration of a broken comb missing all but a few of its teeth. It is decorated with a Norse geometric design, hinting at its Viking origins.
February 5, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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Welcome to the early Kingdom of the Scots: an adorable bird figurine, three painted pebbles and a Pictish carving of a boar 🐗
A hand holding a small sketchbook with grey illustrations of a bird figurine, three painted pebbles and a boar in a Pictish style. A rock with the boar in question is in the background of the photo.
February 5, 2025 at 3:41 PM