How To Make YouTube Thumbnails?

How to Make YouTube Thumbnails for Free With Canva

With the advent of video streaming, people have a greater choice to watch various videos on YouTube. Most users who are willing to pay for the service are somewhat satisfied with the quality of video and audio. But there are users who would just like to watch videos without paying any money.

Canva is a free web application that allows you to create your own custom YouTube thumbnails, backgrounds, and text easily in minutes! This tutorial will show you how to make your own custom YouTube thumbnails with Canva by Vibrate Blogs, which is an extension for Chrome browsers in just two clicks!

What are thumbnails on YouTube?

A thumbnail is a small image that appears on the top of a video, typically during the end credits and is used to help people watch videos. YouTube's thumbnails are shown in their own tab.

By default, YouTube thumbnails are generated from your videos but you can change this setting. You can add custom thumbnails and descriptions, which is useful if you want to share your video.

Related Post: How to allow comments on youtube?

How to upload a thumbnail on YouTube?

After uploading your videos on YouTube creator studio, you will be provided with options for filling up the title, description, custom thumbnail, and tags.

• Click on upload a custom thumbnail
• Choose the desired YouTube thumbnail you have created using Canva
• Once your images are imported, you will view the thumbnail on your video

What does a “thumbnail” look like?

As mentioned above, there are no absolute truths when it comes to creating thumbnail images for YouTube videos, so I won’t pretend this is an exact science either. I have seen some good examples of successful thumbnails on YouTube – not necessarily ones with a lot of attention-getting features – but just familiar enough for somebody who has never heard about them before (I call them “just common enough thumbnails”).

Here are some informal guidelines:

• The first thing you need to decide is whether your image should be vertical (left to right) or horizontal (top left to bottom right).
• Another factor worth considering here is whether your image should have any sort of ‘structure,’ i.e., do you want it all in one column (horizontal) or do you want it all in one row (vertical)?
• If neither is possible then probably horizontal would be best no matter what else is going on because those thumbnails usually only show part

How to make YouTube thumbnails with Canva for free?

Make your own YouTube thumbnails with Canva free version

I love you, Canva free online graphic designing tools. I use it for a variety of things: creating my own artwork, blog banners, and creating backgrounds for videos.

As for YouTube, there are two options: the free version and the paid version. The free version is so good that I don’t bother to use it anymore — especially since I can do everything in a few minutes.

Open Canva website

First, go to Canva graphic designing website and sign up with your Gmail for free.

I recommend using the free version if you’re just starting out with web design or web development, or if you have no website at all. This is also a great way to learn how to create your own background images — as I’ve found that many people find making their own thumbnails fun, and can be a great way to practice drawing without getting stressed out.

Choose your YouTube thumbnail dimensions

• YouTube is made for watching videos. Making a thumbnail for a video is easy. But making an image based on that video is not.
• A YouTube video is only one of the many ways to share your content on the web, but it’s an important way to promote something. It’s also a huge part of what differentiates you from the competition and makes you stand out from your competition.
• The way you represent your product, service, or brand online can make all the difference in the world. You need to know how to make a thumbnail that reflects the character and power of your product or service in a way that will make people want to watch it again and again.

The ideal dimension of a YouTube thumbnail is “1280x720 px”

Add text and graphics to your thumbnail

You might think that you should use Adobe or some other software, but there are many other options available too. I’ll show you how you can make your own YouTube thumbnail from the free online stock photo site Canva for free.

Canva can be used for everything from designing backgrounds for websites, logos, and business cards, to making posters and brochures. It’s an easy-to-use website that lets you define the look of your designs in seconds. It’s very simple and doesn’t require any technical skills at all.

• Create Your Design Once your account is created, go ahead and open Canva in your web browser of choice (Firefox, Chrome, or Safari)
• Click on the "New" tab at the top left of the screen Click "Create" Choose "Background Image" as the background image type Choose “Built-in Background Image” (the default)
• Click Ok to see how it looks click on any thumbnail on the right side of the picture (top right corner)

Save and download your thumbnail

It’s easy to make custom YouTube thumbnails with Canva since all you need is a web browser and a little bit of know-how.

1. Download: The image will be saved to your computer as a WebP, PNG, or JPEG file
2. Save: The image will be saved directly in your Google Drive and/or Dropbox account
3. Print: A high-resolution version of your graphic will be saved in your Google Drive/Dropbox profile
4. Email: The image will be sent directly to your email address, without being uploaded into any other files

What do YouTubers use to make thumbnails?

I’ve been using Canva to make my own custom YouTube thumbnails. It’s a free online graphic designing tool that helps you create your own custom YouTube thumbnail with a background image easily in minutes.

I started out with an ordinary background image, but I was having difficulties making it look good. As I was thinking about ways to improve the background image quality, I stumbled upon the Canva website where I found a number of tutorials that showed me how to make my own custom YouTube thumbnails.

What size is a YouTube thumbnail?

A video thumbnail is the first image that appears when a viewer views a YouTube video. No other image or video is displayed, and it’s the most important one — it captures the attention of the viewer before your actual video starts.

The Canva website has a lot of tutorials and examples to show how to make your own custom YouTube thumbnails for free. I recommend using 1280x720px size for the YouTube thumbnail.

What size is a YouTube banner in 2023?

Using Canva, “2560x1550px” is the ideal size to make your own custom YouTube banner with a background image easily in minutes.

Why YouTube videos need thumbnails?

The main purpose of thumbnails is to increase the number of views for videos people want to watch. The more views a video has, the more likely that video will go viral and get viewed by thousands of people. So, we want to make sure that our videos have at least as many views as possible so we can reach the largest possible audience on our channel.

As this example shows how important this issue is for us, here are some basic principles for making great images for YouTube Thumbnail:

• Make sure your image looks great on any screen size.
• Don't use too much white space
• Use bright colors in your images (not too bright though).

Conclusion

Creating custom YouTube thumbnails is probably one of the most important tasks for a video creator. If you want to make money on YouTube, this is one of the most crucial things you should know.

The latest update from YouTube has added a new feature called "Custom Thumbnail". The new feature allows video creators to choose their own background image and upload it directly to their channel. This will save them from having to upload a background image every time they create a video.

Sonam Tobgay

Founder

Your journey is never right or wrong, good or bad but it’s just different. We are on our own journey with very own unique adventures in life. Make choices for yourself and for nobody else because you will be never enough for them. Perfection is what I perceive as an illusion and authenticity is what I strive for. Life is a journey with never ending learning. Priorities change, so the circumstances and people but you find yourself. And you might actually like that. So, take pleasure in small things, be grateful and be who you are. It is never too late to become who you might have been.