How I went from knowing nothing about graphic design to making awesome custom thumbnails!

Nice story man! I use some Google images but after that I kind of manipulate them and add my own pictures to call it my own. :D
 
Making good thumbnails doesn't have to be hard. I just take a screenshot of an interesting moment of the video, and put some text (usually the title) over it. Use nice, legible text that's easy to read wherever your thumbnail might be displayed. White text with black outline is usually a safe bet. Try to avoid putting the text too close to the sides because it'll get cut off in some places like the suggested/related videos that are displayed at the end of a video.
 
I use GIMP, it's open source and can do pretty much anything Photoshop can do. You can download and install plug-ins, new paintbrushes and stuff. If there's anything I want to learn how to do with GIMP, I just search for how-to guides on Youtube.
I also went from knowing nothing about graphic design to at least knowing how to make some pretty decent looking thumbnails.
I've done all my graphics and thumbnails with GIMP, it's for PC & Mac and it's free.
Thumbnail examples:
9938267594_38fd310919.jpg

9938283774_da32844e57.jpg

Header for my Twitter Page:
9989373476_b65f46b267.jpg
 
Nice thread and tip! Might as well try the app, 30 $ isn't much, and your tumbhnails look mad amazing! If I was searching for those topic, I would definetley check out your videos!
 
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