What a View!

Had some fun with this image of London along the Thames River in England. This is basically stacking a couple layers using different presets in Topaz Studio (see sidebar for website link), specifically the Simplify presets. First duplicated the background (actually did some clean up on the image first) and in Topaz Studio, applied the Flat I preset. This really just blocks in color as if it were painted as an underpainting layer. A Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and Curves Adjustment Layer were added to adjust the color. Went back to the original layer and duplicated it again. This time it was put on top and back into Topaz Studio, this time using my SJ Graphic Sketch 1 preset (it can be downloaded from the Community if you search for it) and set it to Luminosity blend mode at 71% layer opacity. 2 Lil’ Owls (see sidebar for website link) Color Bokeh Grunge Set no. 5 texture was applied and set to 54% layer opacity. On a layer above used Grut’s fabulous Cloud brushes (the best ones you will ever find!) to create some clouds in the flat sky – the layer was set to 40. Added a Black and White Adjustment Layer on top, adjusted the slider so the colors were not so over-the-top bright and set it to 20% layer opacity. Last step was to add a Red Channel Luminosity Curves Adjustment Layer. I love the painterly effect these presets created!…..Digital Lady Syd