- Hey, everybody.
This is Roberto Blake of robertoblake.com,
helping you create something awesome today.
So today, we're gonna talk about five tools,
probably five of the best tools
for making YouTube thumbnails.
So, the tool I use, of course, is Adobe Photoshop.
That's pro software and that may not be for everybody,
but that is tool number one
and I do feel that is the best overall tool
because it gives you a range of flexibility.
It's how I make all the awesome
thumbnails you see here on the channel
and I use a stock photo site called
GraphicStock to help with that.
I also did a photo shoot to let me really make
this great template system for my own thumbnails
and so my skills in photoshop and being able to
use graphicstock.com is what allowed me to do that.
Now, this is not a review or a plug video for them,
aside from the fact that I'm telling you what I use.
They're not a sponsor of the channel,
at least not yet anyway,
but I just wanna throw it out there,
that stock photos can actually
really help you jazz up your YouTube thumbnails
and if you can't afford GraphicStock,
you can check out freeimages.com and that's a great place.
You can use the free resources in DeviantArt,
the ones where you actually have
permission from the artists, so you can use that
and of course you can use Creative Commons in Flickr.
All these places will let you get great images
that you can use with your Youtube thumbnails,
so check that out.
If Photoshop is too complicated and too expensive for you,
you could always scale down.
You can use Photoshop Elements.
Unlike Photoshop, which is currently in Creative Cloud,
where you have to pay a subscription every month,
which is not that bad,
if you get the photography bundle,
it's $10 a month and you got the best
software for this stuff in the world,
but if that's still too expensive for you
then you can always buy Photoshop Elements outright.
It's about $70.
If you go 150 you can get that and Premiere Elements
and then you've got something to edit your videos
and something to edit your photos.
So this could be great
and you can make all the graphics you need
and it's simple to use.
Again, I think this is your next best option
if you're not gonna use Photoshop outright.
If you still wanna manipulate your images by hand
and the only thing you have in your budget is zero,
then you could always get GIMP.
GIMP is a graphic image manipulation program,
that's what it stands for
and it's free open source software,
but it is a little bit clunky and a little hard to use.
There is a plugin for it called GIMPshop
and you could always install that
and it will make it look a little bit more like Photoshop
and maybe that will help you out.
If all that still a little complicated for you
and you feel overwhelmed,
there are two great free tools
that actually are a lot simpler
that might be more your pace,
especially if you're a younger person
and your technical skills aren't up there yet
or even if you're an older person
whose technical skills aren't up there yet
or you just really want to save time.
Both of these are web-based software,
so you don't even have to install anything.
They're called canva.com and picmonkey.com.
Both of these are great free tools.
I would say that Canva is the more intuitive one.
It already has pre-built templates and a lot of great stuff
and it's probably the better of the two,
but PicMonkey also has its uses
and some unique features that can be cool for you also.
I'll probably at some point show you how to do
a tutorial on each of these in the channel,
so make sure you subscribe and stay in tuned for that.
But these are your best solutions if your budget is zero
and you want something that's not very complex.
The three free solutions that I think
are the best are GIMP, PicMonkey and canva.com,
with the preference probably going to canva.com.
If you can actually afford to pay for this stuff,
I would recommend that you use either Photoshop,
which you can get in the Adobe Creative Cloud
bundle for photographers for $10
or Photoshop Elements, which you can get for about $70.
Again, these are my top five picks
as far as tools that can help you
do great and beautiful thumbnails
that will help you get discovered in YouTube,
help you get more views and thus,
help you get more subscribers.
For more tips like these,
make sure you subscribe to the channel,
but also feel free to check out
my free email course that actually
helps you grow a small YouTube channel.
There's some tips in there
and some step-by-step processes
that I haven't actually done in the videos,
so make sure you subscribe for that.
I'm actually getting ready to add
more content to that for semester two,
so you'll probably wanna check that out,
links are in the description below
and probably in the info card up here.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this video.
If you still have questions,
leave those in the comments section.
I always try to answer as many of them as I can.
Anyway, like this video if you like it.
Don't forget to subscribe.
Share it with a friend if you think it would help.
As always you guys,
thank you so very much for watching
and don't forget, create something awesome today.