From Van Eyck to Digital: Paradox Nova’s Hybrid Painting Technique

Helping War Victims
Jan 7
4 min read

Digital art gives speed and flexibility, but it often takes away what viewers read as “alive”: complex light, material depth, and the micro‑vibration of a surface. In Paradox Nova, we deliberately choose a different path: some images are created by hand—using egg tempera and oil—and then integrated into the digital frame. This is not “nostalgia for the classics,” but an engineering approach to make the visual language convincing, cohesive, and recognizable.

Hybrid painting workspace with egg tempera, oil textures, and a drawing tablet showing layered digital integration.

aradox Nova is a docu‑futurist graphic‑novel trilogy in development. The project is designed as a creative asset that, over time, can become a self‑financing engine for the foundation’s programs. The intention is to direct 100% of Paradox Nova net profits to Helping War Victims’ programs, including VR Therapy and the Future Skills IT Academy (both planned / in development, with no fixed launch dates).

Below is why the Early Netherlandish masters matter for a modern digital comic, what traditional materials add, and how the Paradox Nova hybrid process works in practice.

Why the Early Netherlandish Masters Matter for a Digital Comic

When artists mention “the van Eycks,” they usually mean not only the names but a turning point in European painting: a move toward light, transparent layers, and extremely precise depiction of surfaces. In practice, it means the image becomes a layered system.

For a contemporary comic, this is surprisingly relevant: we also work with the “light of the story”—how a scene feels, where the focus lands, how a frame “breathes,” and whether it holds together instead of collapsing into separate effects.

Tempera and Oil: The Power of Traditional Materials

Tempera as a Discipline of Form

Tempera (in the classical tradition, often egg tempera) builds the work on precision: it sets quickly and demands clear decisions about form, value, and edges. For the artist, it is a discipline that helps keep the construction of the image under control.

Oil as a Language of Light and Depth

Oil painting is valued for its range—from dense, opaque passages to transparent and semi‑transparent layers. This “layered optics” makes it possible to assemble complex light and depth that viewers perceive as natural materiality.

Glazing: The “Secret” of Glow and Volume

Close-up of oil glazing showing transparent paint layers creating realistic depth and light.

A glaze is a transparent or semi‑transparent film of paint applied over another layer to shift color and value without covering what’s underneath. This matters for two reasons:

- Light works “through” the layer, not only “on the surface.”

- Color becomes complex: instead of a flat fill, the viewer sees nuance and depth.

In Paradox Nova, we use glazing both in the traditional phase and in the digital stages—as a logical continuation of the same school.

The Paradox Nova Hybrid Process: From Brush to Pixels

Below is a simplified model of how we combine hand painting and digital work while preserving a unified result.

Process Table: A Practical Guide

Stage	What we do	What we control	Why it matters
1. Value (tonal) design	Build light/shadow, volume, contrast rhythm	Readability; light dramaturgy	So the frame “works” even without color
2. Base colors	Lay in large color masses	Palette consistency; temperature relationships	To avoid “noisiness” and accidental hues
3. Glazing	Add transparent color layers (including digitally)	Depth; material; atmosphere	To make color complex and “alive”
4. Integrating hand-painted fragments	Scan/photo fragments and embed into the digital frame	Unified light, perspective, and texture	So the hybrid reads as one image

Four-stage hybrid painting process from value study to glazing and scanned texture integrated into a digital frame.

Stage 1 — Value (Tonal) Design

We start with values because value is the “skeleton” of readability. First comes light and volume—everything else follows.

Stage 2 — Base Color Masses

Next we block in color broadly, without “cosmetics.” The goal is a stable palette and clear relationships: warm/cool, near/far, primary/secondary.

Stage 3 — Glazing (Including Digitally)

This is where something happens that is rarely done systematically in digital drawing: we use transparent layers as an intentional tool, not as a random effect. Digitally, this is achieved through low‑opacity layers and controlled “color veils.”

Stage 4 — Integrating Hand‑Painted Fragments into a Digital Frame

When part of an image is made with tempera or oil, it brings real pigment granulation and the micro‑relief of brushstrokes. The task of the digital stage is to embed that material into a single light logic and atmospheric whole.

Checklist: How to Keep Unity in a Mixed Technique

- One light source: hand‑painted and digital fragments follow the same lighting logic.

- One value range: darkness and light behave consistently across the whole frame.

- A limited palette: fewer hues, stronger relationships.

- Glazing as a system: transparent layers serve material and atmosphere, not “showiness.”

- Thumbnail test: shrink the frame to preview size—if it reads, the structure works.

Why This Matters for Helping War Victims

Helping War Victims Foundation is a registered charity in Lithuania (code 306054239).

Paradox Nova is part of a sustainable funding model: as intended, after release, 100% of net profit is directed to the foundation’s programs. Strong visual technique here is not an end in itself, but a contribution to a clear result: making the project competitive as a cultural product so it can reliably support the foundation’s long‑term directions.