How to Make Awesome Thumbnails

Nick Effendi

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Not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet - but there is a website called "Canva" and its a good place to do thumbnails for free - they have lots of free images to layer over your thumbnail photos. And they are free for the most part
 
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tizzer65

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My thumbnails aren't the best I know there are places to improve. I use fotojet which is probably the quickest for me and it's also cheap. However I know there are better ones out there, if someone can recommend any for a gaming channel? I'd really appreciate it.
 

Jim Baugh

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We just finished a tutorial on color grading and did an interesting thumbnail combining two programs. I know there are a lot of programs out there to do this sort of work with but not sure if you can still beat Photoshop. We uploading all thumbnails at 1920 1080 seems to work pretty good
 

Civilly Barbaric

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Hey guys, a lot of people have been asking, so I though I'd share a bit of my knowledge about making thumbnails with PS, and how to make them amazing looking that are bound to get your videos a few more views!
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*Make sure the dimension size is 1920 by 1080 (for best quality)

1). Firstly, make sure not to do what I call typical styles. Now by this I mean don't do what has been done a million times before, like using the same overlays everyone always does. Though some are great and should be used, try testing out with a few and changing them up a bit. By doing this your text will have a smooth, unique look to it

2). Though this is pretty obvious, USE STROKE AND DROP SHADOW! No doubt without these your text will look so much worse. Pretty well everyone uses these, but it truly is vital to use them.

3). Thirdly, be sure to add extra textures and overlays to your text. Download some pattern overlays, and use them with your text. It will look amazing if you put down the opacity of the overlay, so it doesn't distract the viewer from the actual text and the rest of the thumbnail. Download some transparent flashes, and add them to the sides of the text, or behind! All little things like this can make thumbnails incredible... but only if they are done correctly.

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1). For the rest of thumbnail, you must make sure it is clean. By this I mean be sure not to add too much or too little. If you are doing a thumbnail for a let's play, behind your text possibly have a picture of the game (if it is a unique custom drawing it's even better). Don't add lots of text, but enough so the viewer knows what he is watching.

2). If you are doing a custom colour background, possibly and a pattern with low opacity for a great effect!

3). Just make sure no parts are blurry: you want full HD!

I really hope this helped. If you have any problems what so every comment down below! And subscribe to my channel if you like, I do lots of GFX and give free thumbnail, banner, and intro templates!
you know your channel link doesn't work
 

SlugoGaming

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My thumbnails aren't the best I know there are places to improve. I use fotojet which is probably the quickest for me and it's also cheap. However I know there are better ones out there, if someone can recommend any for a gaming channel? I'd really appreciate it.
I took a look at your current thumbnails and my only word of advice is to adjust the color from black to something else. It’ll be easier to read.
 
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tizzer65

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I took a look at your current thumbnails and my only word of advice is to adjust the color from black to something else. It’ll be easier to read.
Oh thank you man, I'll do that from now on. Appreciate ya!
 

Don in 5

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Looking at some of the thumbnails here, I have come to the conclusion that I need to really work on mine.
 

Allie Danielle

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I have a secret to making them, I just search "make youtube banner" and a lot of cool free sites will pop up.
Maybe its not a secret!
 
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