Dilanka Gunasekara is a 22-year-old freelance thumbnail designer from Sri Lanka. He first started making thumbnails for his own channel and a few friends’ channels, and it quickly turned into a passion.
He’s been designing thumbnails for about 2 years and went professional around a year ago after leaving his job as a computer technician at a well known PC shop in his country, where he also created product ad posters for some time.
Now he focuses on documentary and IRL thumbnails, always aiming to design for more creators. Dilanka is available for hire.
Twitter (X) → x.com/dilanka_gunasek
YT Jobs → ytjobs.co/@dilanka
Featured design
Brief
So the title is ‘Buying Every Pink Animal Online.’ For the thumbnail, I want a Pink gecko sitting on my left hand for the thumbnail. On the right side, add a laptop, though I’m not sure yet what should be on the screen. Think of it like the reference I sent basically that same setup as the previous blue theme thumbnail we did, but instead of the scorpion, make it a Pink gecko, and swap the terrarium with a laptop on the right.
References
Rough sketches
Editing process
Hand → Glove: Started with a bare hand photo, used a stock image of a black glove as a style reference, and used ChatGPT AI to add the glove onto the client’s hand asset. So the gecko became the clear main element of the thumbnail.
Gecko Asset: Cleaned up the gecko by removing UI elements, then changed the camera angle using the Flux Context model in Playground to get the exact angle I wanted.
Monitor Asset: Used a 3D monitor model from SketchFab, grabbed a screenshot at the right angle, and did a quick remix in Ideogram AI.
Composition: Combined the gecko, glove, and monitor into one frame, then designed the shop UI with prices and a bold red “SOLD” tag for storytelling.
Color Palette: Went with light blue, pink, and brown — a split-complementary, balanced color-contrast scheme that creates harmony and visual pop. I locked in this palette after receiving the same suggestion from a few designer friends; I asked for feedback in the Thumbnails 101 server and in DMs.
Polish: Upscaled the final thumbnail with Freepik AI, masked out unnecessary elements, and did final touch-ups to make everything blend seamlessly.
Final options
Tools
Adobe Photoshop
ChatGPT
Flux Kontext
Freepik
Discord
Ideogram
Chrome
1. What do you enjoy most about creating thumbnails?
Whenever clients give me a rough concept or even a thumbnail that’s nearly 1:1, I always aim to bring something fresh while keeping the core vision intact. I quite enjoy the ideation process whenever I get the chance, and I’m glad that most thumbnails I’ve done this way have worked out well.
2. Where do you usually get inspiration for your thumbnails?
Mostly from YouTube itself, but recently I’ve started using Raindrop. It’s a bookmark manager, but it works well for storing thumbnails.
3. What’s one tip you’d give to someone just starting out with thumbnail design?
Be open to good feedback and constructive criticism, especially when it comes with a clear explanation of how it helps or makes the thumbnail better. Fresh eyes often spot improvements you might miss early on. Your first thumbnails won’t be perfect. Mine were worse, but if you keep practicing, experimenting with new ideas, and stay consistent, you’ll level up quickly.
If you found this edition of Unlayered helpful, please consider sharing it with someone who might benefit from this workflow too! 💙