10 - Miha

Miha is a 19-year-old thumbnail designer from Croatia, currently dividing his time between design, engineering projects, and his wrestling career. Within the next year, he plans to attend a technical university (FER or Algebra), continuing to build both his creative and engineering background.

He started designing back in 2017, doing phone edits just for fun. In 2020, he got a computer and began creating 3D and Fortnite designs, which were popular at the time. From 2020 to early 2022, he focused fully on that style before taking a long break from design altogether. For the next two years, he’d only make the occasional poster or photo manipulation every few months.

In August 2024, Miha returned to design through YouTube thumbnails - and within a year, made it to the first page of YTJobs despite having no previous platform or following. He’s since worked with creators like Airrack, Dude Perfect, David Dobrik, Futcrunch, Browney, Brandon William, AMP, Calfreezy and so on.

His favorite niches are IRL, food, fitness, and sports. Outside of design, Miha focuses on faith and self-improvement. After losing his connection with God at the beginning of 2024, he found it again later that year - a turning point that’s shaped everything since. Miha is available for hire.

Twitter (X) → x.com/mihapng
YT Jobs → ytjobs.co/@miha
Instagram → instagram.com/mihapsd

The client wanted a hyper-realistic thumbnail with a natural face and premium wardrobe, inspired by creators like drewdoes and Michelle Khare. The goal was to capture a cinematic yet soft tone - visually luxurious without looking oversaturated or fake.

The turnaround for this project was tight, roughly 24 hours, and due to time zone differences, communication with the client was limited. She sent over a quick sketch of her idea, and from there, I had to translate it visually with almost full creative independence.

I started by manually building the room using painted shapes and photo elements from Google. Some parts, like the blanket and pillow, required a smoother and more realistic texture, so I first painted them by hand, then used AI enhancement selectively to add the silky fabric look the client wanted. The goal was to make it feel like a luxury hotel room, soft and elegant but not overly polished or artificial.

For the background, I tested several options and narrowed it down to two foggy city skylines. One was a yellow-purple sunset to match the client’s original color request, but it introduced too much warmth. I replaced it with a cooler blue version that balanced the overall color composition and worked perfectly with the subject’s tones.

I used Ideogram Remix for light regeneration and blending — mainly to fix visual flaws like the dog’s face or skin transition into the background — and Krea to generate a few missing animal assets that were otherwise impossible to source. These tools acted as assistants rather than replacements, helping refine details that manual editing alone would’ve taken much longer to achieve.

The subject didn’t need heavy retouching, as the original asset was clean and well-lit. I slightly brightened her skin tone to match natural lighting, changed her outfit to pajamas for realism, and added soft highlights from the direction of the window to keep consistent light flow. Subtle contact shadows were painted between her, the bed, the pillow, and the blanket for grounding.

Every detail in the scene was deliberate — from the mask, steak, and champagne to the dog and butler. Each prop added to the idea of luxury while keeping the atmosphere approachable and not overly formal. Despite having multiple visual elements, the composition remained balanced because of the simple background and even lighting.

The project went through four main thumbnail versions — ranging from snow-lion and robotic butler ideas to the final foggy skyline setup with the dog. The color palette wasn’t pre-planned due to the quick turnaround, but by the end, it came together naturally: light blue, magenta pink, white, cream orange, and black — an uncommon mix that ended up being one of the strongest parts of the design.

Once finalized, I ran the image through Freepik Upscale to enhance fine detail and sharpness for export. Despite the rushed schedule and lack of real-time feedback, the result felt cohesive — everything clicked in the final minutes.

Computer Specs

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