38 - Vikas

Vikas is a 21-year-old thumbnail designer from India. He began his design journey in 2023, initially focusing on logo and visual identity design before shifting his niche.

In early 2025, he started learning advanced Photoshop techniques through tutorials, where he discovered thumbnail design. Since then, he has been fully focused on creating high-performing thumbnails. Vikas is available for hire.

Twitter (X) → x.com/vikasdesign
Portfolio → vikasdesign.carrd.co

Hi everyone,

I started my thumbnail journey as a beginner by taking part in Thumbnails 101 Weekly Challenges, which helped me improve with every submission.

For this #46 challenge, things felt different because it featured a real client (4Fun), which added a bit more pressure and excitement. I wanted to treat it less like a challenge and more like an actual client project, so I spent more time thinking through the idea before jumping into the design.

I was scrolling through Pinterest for references when I came across those tower-climbing selfie shots, and that’s where the idea came from. They had a fun but realistic vibe, which felt perfect for the brief. The composition also naturally looked very strong and eye-catching. I also used Sambucha’s thumbnails a bit for inspiration during ideation.

I used this asset for the thumbnail. Multiple options were provided, but this one stood out because the facial expression fit the concept perfectly. The blue t-shirt also worked really well against the red/orange tones of the tower, creating strong contrast and helping the subject stand out.

After looking at the tower-climbing references, I knew a top-angle view would work best to capture that height and intensity. While searching for better angle references, I found a Naruto wallpaper that really clicked for me and helped finalize the perspective. I first made a rough sketch to organize the composition, then took it into Photoshop to refine it by adding details and improving the subject.

I started by converting my sketch into an image. I used ChatGPT to write a prompt based on my references and generated the base image using PKGDai with multiple tries.

The result wasn’t great at first, so I used Nano Banana to push the realism and improve the details. After compositing everything, I spent time refining smaller elements like the tower, ladder, and overall environment to make it feel more natural. Then I added a delivery guy climbing the tower with a food parcel, and to build the story I also added a delivery truck on the side of the road to create depth. I also added a mobile UI and fixed the character’s face so it matched the original asset better.

Once everything was in place, I worked on colors and lighting, and added an outdoor sunlight effect using PKGD. After that, I added the text and finished it off with Camera Raw for final adjustments.

I really enjoyed working on this thumbnail—it’s probably one of my best thumbnails both concept-wise and process-wise.

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