35 - Vine

Błażej, also known as Vine, is a 17-year-old thumbnail designer. He started his thumbnail design journey in November 2025. Before that, he created posters and music album covers — but never truly enjoyed it.

Currently, he is fully focused on thumbnail designing and building his own clothing brand. Vine is available for hire.

Twitter (X) → x.com/VineThumbnails

My decision to redesign Brandon's thumbnail came from the fact that I really like him as a creator and enjoy his content. I'm a gym freak myself, so I found myself right at home with this topic, and working on thumbnails like this is honestly a dream for me!

This is a redesign of Brandon's thumbnail for his video "I Competed in Sports You Won't Believe Exist". The original thumbnail was already good, but I felt I could make it better. My main focus was simplicity and realism.

Retouch: Carefully colour corrected and retouched Brandon with maximum realism in mind, avoiding any overdone effects.

Wounds: Hand-drew the wounds using the Pen Tool, then enhanced them with Freepik and Nanobanana assets for a highly realistic skin and blood effect.

Ring & Environment: Upgraded the fighting ring by changing its colour to vibrant blue and replaced the floor with a more dynamic and interesting surface.

Spectators & Story: Added crowd spectators around the ring and placed a victorious opponent behind Brandon to clearly show his defeat in the pillow fight.

Final Details: Added a ripped-open pillow with flying feathers and scattered teeth on the floor for extra storytelling and impact.

Polish: Used Freepik Upscaler for fine detail and sharpness, then finished with Camera Raw adjustments for colour harmony and overall cohesion.

If you found this edition of Unlayered helpful, please consider sharing it with someone who might benefit from this workflow too! 💙