THUMB WARS #2021 (Patreon)

Here's a look at past thumbnails, the design process and the misfires!

Why Do American Movies Get British Dubs?

It was hard to convey the video in a thumbnail since it covers various movies, but given I used Shrek 2 as the throughline I thought to focus the thumbnail on that, with the Ugly Stepsister. The result is bad lol. So I shifted focus onto Shrek instead which was an infinitely better idea!

Why Groundhog Day Is Better Left Unexplained

Nothing too dramatic here. Originally very red but with the logo it all started to blend together too much so went with purple instead.

What Happened To Spoof Movies?
The main experiment here was the placement of the text with characters. Initially I prioritised Naked Gun but given this covers multiple generations of spoof movies, it felt more apt to have a representation from across the board: Airplane, Naked Gun and Scary Movie.

The Music Of Animaniacs

When this video first came out, the views struggled. Which was a shame, I really liked this thumbnail. So I changed it, along with the title to feel more scandalous: "How Animaniacs Tricked The US Government" 

The video then performed much better, but once the video finally got to 100k views, I reverted the thumbnail and title back to my original preferred versions.
You can actually watch me assemble this thumbnail during this Twitch stream! 

Creative Censorship
I had a clearer idea of what I wanted this thumbnail to be, it was just assembling the elements in the right way!

How Many Times Was Road Runner ACTUALLY Caught?

There really wasn't much variation other than the Eddache placement. 

Controversially, its technically not Wile E Coyote in that thumbnail! It's actually his lookalike, Ralph Wolf, from the cover of the 2001 video game "Sheep, Dog 'n Wolf". What's the difference between Wile E Coyote and Ralph Wolf? Ralph has a red nose. So I went the extra mile and recoloured to be black like Wile E. 

How Has Shrek Aged?

This had a lot of variants, experimenting with wording and layout (including the infamous YouTuber red circles on a thumbnail!)

One Villainous Scene - "I'm Your Biggest Fan"

No variants! But given this was part of the "One Villainous Scene" collaboration, where various channels made videos based on villains, I had to incorporate what the video was about in the thumbnail, rather than the title. Having the text run parallel to his arm is a nice touch!

The History Of Video Game Movies

Trying to cover a whole genre or trope in a thumbnail is tricky! So I experimented with iconic characters before shifting to the movie posters instead.

So is Casper Dead or Not?

At first, I tried a lot of Halloween vibes, but it just didn't look right. So I stuck to mystic blue aura stuff and text until I settled on something.

EDDACHE'S TOY STORY

Siiiiiigh, the ill-fated plush... Oh well. I like this thumbnail!

Buzz Lightyear: The Toy Without A Story

Not that much variation, just finding the right Buzz image!

So What Is Goofy Anyway?

This thumbnail was a struggle, haha! Nothing looked right or came together very well.

That last one became the thumbnail I went with when the video first came out. But it struggled a lot upon release so I tried reverting back to an earlier look for the thumb.

That also didn't help very much. So in the end, I stopped overcomplicating it, and settled on something much simpler.