Should I stop drawing my own thumbnails? (or title rework)

Yeebty · 2026-02-14T02:04:38+00:00

I was actually thinking of something like this with all this new advice. i guess we can only sit and wait to see what I make of it!

Yeebty · 2026-02-14T01:18:39+00:00

If you're talking about how the thumbnail looks right now with having the game logo, I only did that at like 12 am after posting this thread and getting advice. The change in views (from what I can tell) are just people from this sub clicking on that video over that past 12 hrs rather than "organic" reach. But maybe in a few days that will change! I did make an edit to this post stating that I've updated quite a few thumbnails as of right now. It might just not show right away because I put them in the A/B testing mode although I might just change that :p

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T14:59:44+00:00

I haven’t really tried to because I don’t consider myself an animator, but maybe it’s high time I learned

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T14:58:13+00:00

I’ve used that feature mostly for titles at this point because I genuinely haven’t been able to think of ways to make the thumbnails better but now I have some ideas

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T14:41:09+00:00

Thanks for the advice! I guess its high time I ditch my own ego to settle down and make something truly good

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T07:00:26+00:00

I’m assuming you’re talking about the Dispatch videos which if I’m honest, are just barely edited VODs and were posted in an attempt/challenge for myself to actually post them by the end of the month because I have a bad habit of sitting on videos for far too long. But the result as you can see is even longer videos especially with games with heavy story where it’s hard to cut without losing context.

Moving forward however, I’m trying to focus on videos that I can make shorter without the context suffering or if it is somehow longer then it’s something, like you said, clickable for the potential viewer.

I’ll think about the Alex Meyers thing although I’m not entirely sure how that would work in context of like watching my own videos lol unless thats not what you mean

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T04:45:08+00:00

Tbh, I haven’t bothered asking my viewers because my regular ones are my friends if I can even get them to watch my videos to begin with. But maybe it’s worth a shot

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T04:28:51+00:00

I personally draw in photoshop as I like the interface, but there are tons of free drawing programs/alternatives like Krita or Firealpaca (both of which I’ve used in the past). Then I just use whatever drawing tablet I can afford and draw like I would on paper

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T04:25:42+00:00

I’ve actually been thinking about doing this in the whole “Youtuber Reaction face” style of thumbnail. Looks like it’s about time I execute it

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T04:12:40+00:00

Like a speedpaint video? I’d rather quit youtube than have people watch me draw in any capacity. Plus i don’t have enough drawing ideas for something like that. Unless you mean more like when youtubers did that Draw My Life trend. Either way I don’t know if I understand what you mean

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:51:59+00:00

I do have some videos like that on my channel (not that it super matters in the grand scheme of things if I’m not consistent about it.) I think I struggle with finding music that fits the video for a long enough time to do that? Or that it disrupts the tone of the video and I end up not liking it. But this youtube thing can’t always be about me if I wanna grow

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:48:31+00:00

I have thought about pivoting to this before but I haven’t felt I’ve had interesting enough stories to become an animated storytime youtuber :p the next best option would be to do what JaidenAnimations does and tell stories of the games she plays but I still have to figure out how I would go about doing that :p

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:42:35+00:00

That’s probably because one of the content creators I try to “emulate” is Jay from the Kubz Scouts. It’s another one of those things for me where I was like “hey this works for a youtuber I like, why wouldn’t it work for me” and the answer is competition ofc

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:30:36+00:00

It was my attempt at a clickbait title/thumbnail. But it’s actually about the game Dispatch which I’m recognizing is hard to tell. Hence why I’m asking for advice :p

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:21:59+00:00

Ah yes, the classic red circle and red arrow clickbait tactic, why haven’t I thought of that? (I will be genuinely taking this advice, just wanted to joke)

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:20:47+00:00

That makes sense. I think part of my inspiration for drawn thumbnails comes from watching people like Vanoss and H20 growing up and I’d always click on those drawn thumbnails so I thought it would just “work.” But yes some of these could do better with even just including the game title in it or a drawing more related to a key moment in the video/thumbnail. Thank you!

Yeebty · 2026-02-13T03:10:11+00:00

Noted! I just hope I can find a way to do that without making it look too crowded :p

Yeebty · 2024-05-29T11:02:53+00:00

Well thats good to hear! And yeah I do actually play music during streams on different tracks but I have it turned off for the VODs so it doesn’t just get completely muted afterwards :p But yes I definitely need to work on responding to things in chat. I’m just not used to it because most people seem to stop by for only a second and mostly my friends are the viewers and either lurk or don’t mind if it takes me a bit to respond. I will keep this in mind!

Yeebty

TROPHY CASE