[Sahaj]

Hey HF! Hope you all are doing good! I'm -Eclipse. 🙂

Today, I'm posting the tutorial on how to make some cool thumbnails for your YouTube videos. This attracts users to watch your video and makes you look a pro and HQ YouTuber.


Here's what we will be creating :



So, let's begin the tutorial. :smiile:

First, make a new document, or open an image. The image I'll be using throughout the tutorial is downloaded from -

http://www.ohmymag.com/selfie/wallpaper and I take no credit of it!

You can use any dimensions. I'm using the following ones.

https://i.imgur.com/xcHzihT.png

Now, make sure the layer is unlocked. If it's not, double click the layer to unlock it. (See Image below)

https://i.imgur.com/GcGOGgx.png

Now open the blur tool from the toolbar, here is the screenshot :

https://i.imgur.com/2d5UfUv.png

Make sure the strength is 100%, if it's not, make it 100%. :

https://i.imgur.com/IxlB9rD.png

Now use the blur tool to blur all the unnessessary space in the image and to focus on the thing you want. I blurred the background to focus on the girl in the picture (She's pretty, isn't she? :p).



Now, duplicate the layer by right-clicking on it and choosing "Duplicate Layer". :

https://i.imgur.com/HtFZvk9.png

Name it B&W, or whatever you like. :Smile: :

https://i.imgur.com/aMa8UYC.png

Now, move the B&W layer to the bottom, below the main layer as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/M6TXQUb.png

Now, select the B&W layer. At the bottom, click on the circle thing and choose "Hue/Saturation..." as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/lUtPKG1.png

Now, drag the saturation all the way to the left (-100) as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/N1pIfJ2.png

Now, select the main layer (Layer 3 in my case) and choose the eraser tool from the toolbar as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/zcmPJWZ.png

Now erase the are you blurred earlier so that just the character is coloured/focused. Sorry, my image was dull. But I did erase the area and it turned Black and White as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/WRJeGaK.jpg

Now, keeping the main layer selected, go to that circle thing again and select "Gradient" this time :

https://i.imgur.com/NRnaHW2.png

Now click on the gradient make as shown in the image below (1) and then double click on that little thing shown in (2). :

https://i.imgur.com/178owAT.png

Now choose the colour, I'm choosing darker green :



Now change the upper colour by clicking the other one, as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/Vl5CVC4.png

Click OK and OK if you're happy with the colours. Now change the blending of the main layer to "Linear Dodge (ADD)" or you can choose any one you like or suits your image :

https://i.imgur.com/q8HaKdQ.png

Now add any text using your favourite font (I'm using Big Noodle Titling, get it here! - http://www.dafont.com/bignoodle-titling.font). You can change the properties of the text from the menu to the right as shown. If you don't see this menu, press Ctrl+T to bring it up. :



Now we'll make our text pop-up. To do so, right click on the text layer and choose "Blending Options" As shown:

https://i.imgur.com/g0BCEoT.png

Now, from the Blending Options window, choose "Drop Shadow". You can use the following settings or you can play around on your own. 🙂 :



Now, choose the Rectangle tool from the toolbox as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/e69u9ID.png

Now, use it to make a rectangle around your text. (Don't worry if it looks like following) :

https://i.imgur.com/nF9DpsQ.png

Now, from the top menu, choose No colour in the shape. :



And from the fill, choose White as shown :



Now, increase the rectangle's width using the properties window on the left as shown :

https://i.imgur.com/17ltaXd.png

Now decrease the opacity of the rectangle to whatever you like :

https://i.imgur.com/y2pHIgC.png

Now, rotate or resize it using the transformation tool (Ctrl+T). :



And all done! Here's what you get :



Thanks for reading the tutorial. Please reply to this thread with feedbacks and don't forget to say thanks (I worked hard on making this tutorial good and I explained the best I could. 😊 )

PS - THIS LOOKS SICK, BUT I CHOSE A DULL IMAGE, SO IT'S NOT LOOKING THAT SICK. SORRY ABOUT THAT. ✌

AND SORRY FOR THOSE IMAGE LINKS TOO, THERE'S A LIMIT OF 15 IMAGES IN A THREAD, SO I POSTED THE LINKS INSTEAD OF SOME IMAGES! 😵

[ANNlHILATION]

Nice tutorial OP, will definitely use this in the future.

[Sahaj]

Nice tutorial OP, will definitely use this in the future.

Thanks man! 🙂 I was getting mad because no one replied to this thread but now feeling better! :)

[xCrYsTaLx]

Awesome work - Nice tutorial helped me :))

[Sahaj]

Awesome work - Nice tutorial helped me :))

Thank you very much for your reply! :)