12 Steps to Create YouTube Thumbnails with AI

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Lately, people have been asking how I make my simple but effective YouTube thumbnails.

The answer is easy: I use AI.

This approach helped me grow my YouTube audience tenfold in just one year.

Let me show you how.

👉 By the way, here’s a video version of this post.

Disclaimer: This post has affilite links at no cost to you.

1. Keep It Simple

Here’s what my thumbnails look like now:

A simple yet powerful AI-generated thumbnail

Definitely still far from perfect… But a lot better than what my thumbnails looked a year ago:

There’s far too much happening in this example. Let’s count the elements:

Counting 15 objects in my beginner thumbnail

That’s 15 different objects. It actually takes a moment to figure out what’s going on.

That’s just too much these days. People should be able to see what’s happening right away—otherwise they’ll skip it.

So instead of that thumbnail, let’s use this one:

Another AI-generated simple thumbnail

In this thumbnail, you can instantly spot three things:

  • The Medium logo
  • 205k views
  • Me showing results

That’s exactly what the video is about.

The message is much clearer now, with only three objects instead of fifteen. Much better.

Whether you use AI or not, the key is to keep it simple. Remove 80–90% of the clutter in your thumbnails.

2. Enhance Your Selfies with AI

To make your thumbnails stand out, use photos of yourself. The key is that they should be sharp and look professional.

If you’re like me, you probably don’t have photos like that lying around.

The good news is you don’t need to hire a photographer anymore. You can use an AI headshot generator instead, and it costs only a fraction of what a photographer would charge.

My favorite tool for this is The Multiverse AI or BetterPic.io.

Just upload a few images, and the AI does the rest.

Here’s a real selfie I used:

Here are the AI-generated headshots it created of me:

These are 100% AI-generated images of me, and they look just like the real thing.

They can really take your thumbnails to the next level.

This is the only step that isn’t free. But I’ve set up a 10% discount for you at The Multiverse AI—just use the code ARTTURI when creating your images.

3. Open Canva

Next, let’s use a free tool for YouTube thumbnails: Canva.

Click Start Designing a YouTube Thumbnail.

You should then see a screen like this:

This is my favorite tool for designing thumbnails. It comes with AI features, layers, templates, assets, and more.

It’s also one of the few tools I’ve used that makes it easy to design without any prior experience.

4. Upload Your Headshot

To start making your thumbnail, drag and drop one of your AI-generated headshots onto the canvas:

5. Remove the Background with AI

Next, remove the background from your image in Canva:

  1. Click on the image to select it.
  2. Click Edit image.
  3. Choose BG Remover.

In just a few seconds, the AI removes the background perfectly:

This is a paid feature. If you don’t have Canva Pro, you can use a free tool called Remove.bg instead.

It works just as well!

6. Make Small Tweaks

Resize the image so your face is as large as possible while still showing part of your upper body.

You can also adjust the sharpness to make the image look crisper.

Here’s how:

  1. Click on your image.
  2. Click Edit image.
  3. Select Adjust.
  4. Scroll down.
  5. Move the Sharpness slider until it looks right to you.

7. Change Background

Next, change the background color by clicking on it and selecting a new shade.

This time, I went with an almost-black color:

8. Add Glow

Now, let’s enhance the headshot by adding a glow effect behind it.

Here’s how:

  1. Click Elements from the left-hand menu.
  2. Search for Gradient.
  3. Select Graphics.
  4. Pick a round gradient shape like this:

Next, place it behind your headshot:

  1. Click Position.
  2. Select Backward.

Then resize the gradient so it lights up your whole background.

Keep the glow subtle by adjusting the transparency. Set the slider somewhere between 50–70%.

Now the glow is subtle enough that it doesn’t draw too much attention. You can also change the gradient color if you like.

9. Add a Relevant Object

Next, add an object related to your video. This could also be a bold piece of text.

For example, if I were reviewing ChatGPT, I might add something like this:

You can also adjust the gradient color to better match the theme or object in your thumbnail.

For example, here’s the thumbnail I made for my AI business tools video:

10. Zoom Out

Finally, zoom out to check that your thumbnail still delivers the message clearly, even when it’s just a small icon:

11. Download

When you’re done, download your thumbnail:

  1. Click Share.
  2. Click Download.

12. Use It

Then open YouTube Studio and upload your thumbnail.

That’s it—I hope you found this helpful! 🙂

Thanks for reading.

👉 Check the updated list of Best AI Headshot Generators.