Our Thumbnails Process

If you are reading this, you are interested in how we ACTUALLY make the thumbnails and our streamlined process. We wrote this blog exclusively to share our process for people who are curious. Please note that our workflows keep changing as we update ourselves whenever we can so somethings may change from when we write this to the date you are reading this, we will try our best to update this section so apologies if we fail to do so. Anyways, here's our process -

Finding the Title & Style:

Every thumbnail we begin, we always ask our clients the title of the video and the style of thumbnails they would like to see on their channel. This way, we stay true to what you want while also adding our own twists to make the thumbnails better. During this process we also gather some references and send them over to be posed.

Posing:

Whenever the thumbnail is made in 3D, we get them custom posed according to the demands. We have dedicated people for this process and we make sure the poses are dynamic and natural, making them easier to work with and pop out.

Lighting & Rendering:

Usually most people just slap on an HDRI and call it a day but we are thorough. All our poses and send over for lighting to a dedicated artist. Now, you may think that it;s a waste of time, but matching the lighting with the style and mood of the thumbnail is what makes it feel like it was made for the topic. We render in Cycles and send them to be composited.

Compositing:

Now comes the fun part, putting it all together! This part is tricky because is can make or break the thumbnail, for that reason, every thumbnail goes through over 20 variations, small, little changes that each improve the thumbnail. And I, personally give feedback on this part to make sure they are upto quality.

Delivery & Changes:

We show you the thumbnail and a few variations and do any necessary chanegs you ask us. Usually we provide unlimited revisions but ofcourse, within reason. We can't have our whole team rebuild a thumbnail 20 times if it is not a good reason. However, we have had no complaints so far!

And the thumbnail is ready! Even after uploading we provide small changes if needed and ofcourse, we get ready for the next one!