Sujit Sarkar is a 23 year old, freelance thumbnail designer. He’s been using Photoshop for about 3 years now, it all started out as making simple graphics and banners for local people and shops.
In November 2024 he shifted fully into thumbnail design, and that’s been his only focus ever since. He’s always working to level up his skills and “trying to do better...”. Sujit is available for hire.
Twitter (X) → x.com/sujit_psd
A huge thanks to the Thumbnails 101 Discord for helping me get into thumbnail design!
Featured design
Overview
I’ve been working with Stanley Chen for almost half a year now, and I’ve been taking care of the thumbnail designs and ideas. The title was “I Competed in The World's Most Impossible Hill Climb” and Stanley already had most of the assets taken in this similar camera angle, and the initial reference we took was the original video done by the channel called “Enduro Life Media”.
Reference
Starting asset
Image asset provided by Stanley.
Composition
This was the initial rough draft I sent to Stanley to which he agreed.
Editing Process
As you can already guess, the biggest part of this thumbnail is the background and the rider who is falling with his bike, it all started with getting the perfect background. And the perfect background was generated using Perfect AI: Nano Banana, one of the best AI’s I’ve ever used.
These were the backgrounds I got that were the most relative to the vision I had, I got a few more but I can’t show all of them lol.
After this I added the man falling on the hill using the same AI. It took a few tries but the result was worth it.
In-case you’re wondering about the quality getting boosted suddenly? I used Magnific upscale on creative mode to enhance the quality of the image. I had a few versions, but I masked and used them in separate areas.
The lighting is not matching at all here, so I used the Photoshop Harmonize Tool, one of the biggest relighting tools built inside Photoshop that allows you to relight any subject/object with any background. (It’s not always perfect and it takes a few tries to get a good result).
I also added the RedBull logo on his shirt
After this, I did a few final adjustments to make the thumbnail look more dangerous, such as adding fire coming out from the exhaust and adding stones to make the road rocky instead of dusty. I finally did another layer of Magnific upscaling to enhance the image and bring the realism to final quality.
This whole thumbnail took me around 3-4 hours of work to finish, and I am really happy with it!
Unlayered 😎
Software
Adobe Photoshop
ChatGPT
Discord
Freepik AI Suite & Assets
Hardware
AMD Ryzen 5 CPU
Nvidia 3050 GPU
XP-Pen tablet
Basic Monitor / Basic Mouse and Keyboard
An Ergonomic Chair
What do you enjoy most about creating thumbnails?
I’ve ideated and designed many thumbnails, and so far I’d say the design process is the most enjoyable part for me. Ideation is also fun, but bringing a thumbnail to life and matching it to the vision I have in my mind is what I enjoy the most.
Where do you usually get inspiration for your thumbnails?
There are a lot of places. Most of the time, I look at videos that have performed well in a similar topic. My go-to platforms are YouTube, Pinterest, and the inspiration channel in the Thumbnails 101 Discord.
What’s one tip you’d give to someone just starting out with thumbnail design?
It might be hard when you’re starting out and don’t have any clients—trust me, it was the same for me too. The best thing you can do is pick one niche or style you enjoy the most and focus on improving your thumbnails every time you make one. Share your work online on platforms like Twitter, and eventually you’ll land your first client. (And always charge upfront.)
Best thumbnail you’ve ever made?
Best thumbnail you’ve ever seen?
If you found this edition of Unlayered helpful, please consider sharing it with someone who might benefit from this workflow too! 💙
