Tomáš Javůrek x Horsefeathers: When doodle art meets the bike collection

Illustrator and lifelong skateboarder Tomáš Javůrek has brought his playful signature style to our latest bike collection. His authentic doodle art comes to life on jerseys, gloves, and goggles, capturing the atmosphere of the trails, the joy of riding, and the nature around us. Each design reflects his personal style and natural connection to movement and the people around him – as he puts it: “It’s mainly about three things: nature, friendship, and movement.” How did the whole visual come together, what inspires him, and why is community so important to him? Find out in the interview.

How would you introduce yourself to someone who’s hearing about you for the first time?

I’m Tomáš Javůrek, born in 1990. Basically a lifelong skateboarder who also draws. Those two things kind of met somewhere in the middle and gradually grew into each other. Today, skateboarding and art are completely inseparable for me. One constantly influences the other. So yeah, that’s me in a nutshell.

What got you into drawing? Were you that kid who was always drawing?

Exactly. I drew absolutely everything. Whatever I had in my hands, I would just start drawing. Being part of that older generation without all the high-tech toys, we had to create a lot of things ourselves. I remember taking LEGO figures, making up stories, and drawing them. I imagined everything and put it down on paper. And from there, it somehow naturally grew into my professional life. So yeah, it all started in childhood.

What does your work look like today? You have a very distinctive doodle style—how did you develop it into what it is now?

What I mainly do is pure drawing. I carry a sketchbook everywhere. I go for a beer—I’ve got my sketchbook. I sit somewhere—I draw. I’m constantly sketching. The final pieces are basically just compositions, more polished ones, built from those individual sketches. But the core, the most important part, happens in the sketching itself. I have tons of small drawings that I later combine into bigger compositions. My doodle style mainly comes from drawing a lot and having a huge “arsenal” of sketches that I work with. And it’s important for me to keep the style consistent. So that when someone sees a single piece taken out of context, they still know it’s mine.

Besides skateboarding, what else inspires you?

Definitely the street, urban environments, and communities of people. And then the classic things like love, sadness, and melancholy. That’s pretty natural, I guess every artist has that.

Does your art support you full-time now?

Yeah. During covid, I lost my job and had some savings on the side, so I decided to give it a shot. And since then, I haven’t gone back to a regular job. It works for me, so I’m happy.

Where can people see your work?

Either directly in the streets, I do murals. Or through collaborations with skate brands, so on skate products and clothing. If you go to a skatepark, there is a good chance you will see someone wearing something I have worked on. I also do exhibitions from time to time, but I do not have anything specific to invite people to right now. One thing worth mentioning though, every year there is Skateholders in České Budějovice. It is a great event that started from nothing and now has an international reach. There are workshops, films, talks, and I take part in it every year. Last year I had an author reading there because I released a book of skate stories. And this year I am working on an illustrated encyclopedia of skateboarding etiquette, basically how people should behave, because a lot of people make mistakes they are not even aware of. I will also be giving a talk about it and really pushing it to people.

My doodle style mainly comes from drawing a lot. I have a huge arsenal of sketches that I work with. What’s important to me is keeping the style consistent, so that even a single piece taken out of context is still recognizably mine.” — Tomáš

How do you approach collaborations?

I was lucky that I didn’t take on commissions in the beginning. I wanted to build my own style first. Today it works in a way that brands come to me because of what I do. They don’t come saying “we want a little bee for our cheese.” They come because they want my work. So I don’t have to bend my style, I just apply my own visual language to their product. That gives me a lot of freedom. And that’s why I’m happy with most of the things I’ve done, they’re often projects for the community or with people who are close to me.

What led to the collaboration with us at Horsefeathers?

I reached out to you. Originally, I wanted to make my own boxers with my illustrations. But I realized it’s pretty demanding from a technical point of view. I knew Horsefeathers had the production capabilities, so I reached out to them. In the end, we landed on something different, a bike collection. I wanted to take advantage of the fact that you can produce things I wouldn’t be able to make on my own. That’s how the bike jerseys came to life. For me, it was a bit of a challenge, because it’s not exactly my usual world. What was interesting is that this time I didn’t do everything myself. I created one large illustration, and your designer built the final design from it, rearranging elements and playing with colors. And I really enjoyed that, because I got to see my work interpreted in a different way. I’m honestly really happy with the result.

TOMÁŠ JAVŮREK X HF: DOODLE SERIES

“I always start the same way – paper, pencil, quick sketches. I usually fill up an entire sketchbook. Then comes digital – tablet, selecting sketches, building the composition, colors. But the most important part always happens at the beginning, in the sketching.” — Tomáš

What do the illustrations depict?

It’s mainly about community, people together. Riders, friends, pairs, groups. There’s nature too, hills, water, animals. Moments like hugging, high fives, hyping each other up, just chilling. When I look at it, it really comes down to three things: nature, friendship, and movement.

Can you describe your creative process?

I always start the same way, paper, pencil, quick sketches. Most of the time I fill up an entire sketchbook. Then comes the digital part, using a tablet, selecting sketches, building the composition, working with colors. But the most important part always happens at the very beginning, in the sketching stage.

What is it like to see your work on products that people actually use?

It’s great. I don’t like things that are made just for the sake of being made. But when I know people actually use it, that they ride in it, meet up, and spend time together, then it makes sense to me and it makes me happy.

What are you currently working on?

I’m getting ready for the skate season, it’s not just fun anymore, you’ve got to stay in shape, haha. So if I want to really enjoy the season, I need to put in the work now. Work-wise, I’m currently creating visuals for the Shotgun Festival in Hrádek nad Nisou, which I’d definitely recommend checking out.

Do you have any advice or message for aspiring artists who would like to live a similar life to yours?

It’s hard to say. I never would have expected it to come together like this. I always wanted to be an artist, but for a long time skateboarding felt more like an obstacle, because I couldn’t fully focus on just one thing. Then there was a moment when I realized it doesn’t have to be a limitation, it can actually be my advantage. Once I understood that and found my own way of approaching it, I connected those two worlds and it all started to make perfect sense. Even though it didn’t look that way at the beginning, it can work. Another thing is, I don’t think you should focus only on commercial work. The most important things in my work are not the projects that make me a living, but the ones for the community. Things like skate projects or my books that parents read to their kids. And they react to it, which is already happening, and that makes me really happy. So those are the things that matter the most to me.

(Note: The book is called Skate Prdíky. It can be ordered directly from Tomáš via his Instagram, or found in Brno at SpotStore and in Prague at Darkslide.cz.)

To wrap it up, just five quick questions.

Street or skatepark? Skatepark alone, street with friends.

Paper or iPad? Paper.

Silence or music while creating? Silence.

Quick sketch or polished piece? Quick sketch.