1. Create a new file, our signature is sized 360 by 140 pixels. Size is not really important when you create signatures, just use whatever you like:

2. Apply your wallpaper, photo or render on your canvas. This photo has its focal point in the middle of the canvas:

3. We’re going to apply a black to white gradient map to darken the signature a bit. Set this gradient map to Soft light on 28% opacity:

4. Make a new layer, go to Image > Apply Image, and smudge the background a bit. Remove the parts near the focal point. To illustrate what this layer looks like I’ll show it to you on a white backgound:

shown on our render:

5. Add a large textured render on top of the signature. remove parts over your focal point or important detail in the background.

6. We’re going to desaturate the canvas. Make a new layer, and go to Image > Apply Image. Then go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate:

7. Smudge, erase and move around some of the textures around the focal:

8. Apply the image on a new layer (New Layer, Image > Apply Image) and select Filter > Sharpen. Erase parts that come off too strong, and smudge some more parts of the background:

9. More smudging, and use the sharpen tool to sharpen some of the sections:

10. Apply the image, smudge, erase and sharpen parts. We’re going to repeat these steps a bit until it looks good. This is one of the layers shown on a white background to show you what it looks like:

11. After doing this step a few times and desaturating the result:

12. Time for some colouring. Go to Layer > New adjustment layer > Gradient Map… and select settings something similar to this:

This Gradient Map is set to Soft Light on 59% opacity. The result:

13. Using the pen tool, we’re going to create some lines around our render. Use your eyedropper tool to select 2 contrasting colors, and stroke these lines (right click > Stroke, set it to 1 and select the color you like):

14. Apply an outer glow to this layer (Layer > Layer Style > Outer Glow):

Result of our lines:

15. Make a new Gradient Map, select Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map… and select some good looking gradient. If you use my adjustment layer, make sure you set it to reverse:

This layer is set to Soft Light on 21% Opacity:

16. We’re going to add some renders on our canvas, smudge and erase some of these parts. I’ll show you what my layer looks like on a white background:

Set this layer to soft light:

17. Make a new layer, and apply the image. Hide this layer for now, we’re going to need it in step 20.

18. Apply this layer on a new layer, and add a new photo filter. Image > New Adjustment Layer > Photofilter:

Leave this layer on normal and full opacity (remember to set the density to 25%):

19. Add another cinema4d layer, and smudge this a bit. This is what the layer looks like on a white background. Set this layer to Color Dodge:

Remember to set it to color dodge:

20. Grab the layer we applied in step 17, and move it on top. Reduce its opacity to 50%, this is the layer shown on a white background:

21. Apply the image on a new layer and sharpen parts of it. Erase pieces that you don’t need. This is the layer set to a white background:

The result:

22. We’re going to create another gradient map, Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Gradient Map:

Set this layer to soft light, and reduce its opacity to 30%:

23. We’re going to apply the topaz vivacity filter (You can view a tutorial on the Topaz filter in this article, select Filter > Topaz Vivacity > Topaz Sharpen, and use the standard settings. After that, select Filter > Topaz Vivacity > Topaz DeJPG. Our result:

24. Add another photofilter, and select a nice looking color. my settings were:

This finnishes our tutorial, the result after applying the photo filter:

We hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial. Feel free to comment, suggest or ask any questions in the comments below.

Topaz Filters

Topaz comes with a few filter options (You might have 2 or 3 more that are somewhat the same as the ones listed):

• TopazClean
• TopazDeJPG
• TopazDenoise
• TopazEnlarge
• TopazSharpening

I’m going to show you the difference between TopazSharpening and Photoshops default sharpening filter with this wallpaper I found on gamewallpapers:

This wallpaper is rather blurry, so its a good image we can use. First, I’m going to use the default Filter > Sharpen with default settings:

As you can see, some parts look pretty good. Other parts however look kind of messy. Take a look at their pistols for example, they don’t look that great. I’m going to use the topaz filter now:

our result:

It can be a bit hard to compare the two images, however you can see quite a difference on the pistols, they’re a little less edgy. Topaz has some other cool functions to fix an image however:

Topaz Clean Filter

We’re going to go back to the wallpaper we started with, and apply my favourite topaz effect. Our original wallpaper:

We’re going to apply the TopazClean filter to create a smooth dreamy effect (though this image doesn’t quite compliment its effect to be fair):

First, select Filter > Topaz Vivacity > Clean, and play around with the settings. I used the custom settings (You can select these by pressing the reset button):

my result:

If you compare this with the Photoshops own sharpen filter:

If you’re trying to create a dreamy sort of fake vectorized look, this is definitely a good filter to use. I hope you’ve enjoyed this small article, if you have any suggestions or tips about using Topaz, please use the comments below to tell us!