Over the past few weeks, I've been working a lot harder on the thumbnails for my videos and I have noticed a significant improvement in my view counts so being the nice guy that I am, I have decided to let people in on the secret of how I do it. 

Step 1: Software 
The first thing you need to do is to pick an image editing/creating program such as photoshop, gimp, etc. I personally use gimp because it's free and easy to use in my opinion and it will be the program I am making the tutorial for. You can still follow along with photoshop, but it will be easier with gimp. 

Step 2: Background 
Now you want to create a new image in your software. YouTube and most other video sharing websites work best with size 1280x720 pixels. Make sure to check transparent background. Here's where you need to make a decision. You can either import a screenshot from a game or other image, or you can use a gradient background. If you import an image, you can just say open as layers and import it. If you want to make a gradient background, choose the blend tool and pick your 2 colors. Go to tool options and under shape, choose radial. The first color will be in the middle of the picture and it will fade to the second color at the outsides. Now click the middle of your image and drag your cursor to just past the corner of the image. Yes. It does look cool. 

Step 3: Minecraft logo 
This step is fairly simple. Just go to Google images and search "minecraft logo transparent background". Find the minecraft logo with a transparent background and copy paste it to your image software. Feel free to move and resize the image as needed. Note: this applies for every game. Just make sure you don't piss anyone off by stealing their images. 

Step 4: Minecraft skin 
This is where you add some character to your thumbnail. There are probably a few websites that are good for this (and I know blender can do this), but the website I use is Click Here!. Once you get there, just enter your Minecraft name and press enter. Now go to the pose tab and pose your character. It will be tempting to give up and use one of the preset positions, but trust me, your thumbnail will look a lot better if you take the time to figure out how it works. You can put items into your player's hand if you want. Now just press photo and save your picture. Put your skin into your image and you're almost done. 

Step 5: Add some text 
In gimp go ahead and click the text tool. If you want to use a special font for your text, go to Click Here!. They have some really cool fonts. After you install the font, you will have to restart gimp for it to work (make sure to save first). Now that you have your font, choose a color for your text. Don't make it too close to the background color because it will blend in, but don't make it too contrast because you don't want to end up drawing too much attention to one part of the thumbnail. Next, select a text size. I usually find 140 is a good size for a title and 50 for any other text. 

Step 6: Finishing touches 
Now you just want to make sure there aren't any very open spots in the picture. The background isn't supposed to be the main attraction. Add some minecraft items in the picture that are relevant to the video. 

And you're done! I really hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and it helped you out. If you want to see some examples of thumbnails, check out my YouTube channel: Click Here!. If you did find this helpful, please diamond, favorite, and subscribe!