Omkar Thakur, known online as "Ace", is an 18-year-old freelance thumbnail designer from Pune, India. He began his creative journey in 2018, editing videos on his phone for fun and eventually creating short films.
In November 2024, he branched out into thumbnail design and quickly fell in love with it, growing through communities like the Thumbnails 101 Discord server.
After getting a new laptop in January 2026, he started offering his services publicly and has since worked with creators like Mrwhosetheboss, Stan Browney, Sambucha, and more. Ace is available for hire.
Twitter (X) → x.com/AceClicks
Website → aceclicks.in
Featured design
Overview
On March 1st, 2026, I received an inbound inquiry from Sambucha himself. While Aamir is the main thumbnail designer for the channel, I was brought in to redesign the thumbnail packaging for over 20 of Sambucha's older underperforming videos. This newsletter features one of the redesigns from that project.
Title: I Broke The World's Weirdest Laws
In this video, Sambucha attempted to break 100 weird laws from around the world within 24 hours. While researching the video, one particular law caught my attention: in New Jersey, climbing trees is technically prohibited in certain areas.
I immediately saw the thumbnail potential in this idea. After discussing several concepts with Sambucha, we finalized this angle, and I began designing the initial concept sketch for the thumbnail.
The original thumbnail designed by Aamir
Inspiration
I had come across these iconic thumbnails in the past that heavily influenced my thinking around the tree-climbing concept. These thumbnails were one of the main reasons I immediately saw the potential in the idea.
Using them as inspiration, I decided to build upon the concept and create a more dynamic thumbnail set within a New Jersey-inspired environment, making the scene feel larger, more believable, and more visually engaging.
References
Concept Workflow
Here’s how I design and prepare a thumbnail concept sketch:
Research & Context Gathering
I research market trends and analyze the project brief. For redesigns, I watch the full video to grasp its key points and context. I also run daily creative drills, collecting inspiration from across the internet. These references later feed my thumbnails, short film storyboards, and creative learning.
Concept Development & Iteration
With the context gathered, I feed it into ChatGPT to generate a detailed, context-loaded prompt. I then refine and experiment through trial-and-error until the concept matches my vision.Building the First Draft
After choosing a strong base concept, I make all major changes at this earliest stage — getting anatomy, proportions, color palette, storytelling, lighting, framing, and composition as close to perfect as possible before moving on.Creating the Concept Sketch
Once the draft is finalized, I convert it into an illustrated sketch. This hides imperfections and distractions, leaving a clean, focused reference image. More importantly, the sketch anchors future generations and design stages, keeping stray visual inputs from causing unwanted design issues.Client Review & Validation
Now I have a polished, easily shareable sketch to validate the idea with the creator before the final design phase.
The sketch format helps creators clearly understand my vision and give precise feedback. Since it already locks in posing, composition, and asset placement, it speeds up the workflow and greatly reduces major revisions in the final design.
Image below represents the final first draft of the concept, where I completed most of the ideation, exploration, and refinement work, establishing the overall vision for the thumbnail.
First draft of the concept
Image below shows my permanent illustration style reference. I use the same sketch for every project, as it already contains the ideal coloring, styling, depth, and visual treatment, helping me achieve consistent results with strong color usage and depth across all concepts.
Illustration reference (left), final sketch (right)
Assets
As I had already shared a well-refined concept sketch with Sam, the posing and overall vision were crystal clear from the start. This allowed him to provide high-quality assets that perfectly matched the intended concept.
Blurred starting asset for obvious reasons
Editing
As I had already tackled the biggest challenges related to composition and ideation, I moved on to my usual design workflow.
Generated a more hyper-realistic environment using the same sketch reference, but this time with greater refinement, precision, and attention to detail.
Manually face-swapped the provided asset to ensure accuracy and consistency.
Face swap
Corrected major flaws and refined the lighting to make the key focal points stand out. Tools like Harmonize helped streamline the process and saved a significant amount of time.
Designed the text box and integrated it into the composition.
Performed the final cleanup and polishing pass.
Applied the final finishing touches using Camera Raw Filter, Color Lookup adjustments (3 Strip), a warm Photo Filter, and finally a High Pass Filter in Soft Light mode at around 3.5 strength. The High Pass Filter helps create a sharper and crisper image while maintaining a natural look, making it one of the most effective methods of achieving a clean upscale effect (highly recommended).
For this project, Sam was satisfied with the delivered result, so no revisions were required.
That's how I approached creating this thumbnail from scratch, without relying on any direct references.
Unlayered
Workstation
This is my setup, where every thumbnail comes to life. On the right side sits my 13-year-old workstation laptop, the same machine that played a major role in shaping me as a designer. Despite its limitations, it was on this laptop that I spent years learning, experimenting, and developing my creative skills.
Software & Tools
Designing: Photoshop, Photopea, Lightroom
Communication: Discord, X, WhatsApp
Assets: Freepik (now Magnific)
AI: Freepik Suite (NB2, Flux, Seeddream, GPT 2), Flow
Ideation: Pinterest, Discord moodboard
What's the best part of making thumbnails?
For me, it's definitely the ideation and conceptualization process. I enjoy turning a simple video idea into a strong visual concept that instantly communicates the story. Apart from designing itself, I also love having conversations and debates with creators, designers, and audiences. Those discussions often provide valuable perspectives that help me improve both creatively and professionally.
What advice would you give to someone just starting out with thumbnail design?
1. Stay honest and loyal to your work
Never mislead anyone with fake claims or false results. Be transparent with your clients — long-term, healthy relationships are worth far more than short-term gains. Focus on creating a positive impact for creators and audiences, and help fellow designers grow alongside you.
2. Focus on networking and soft skills
Networking is a game-changer. Talking directly with fellow designers, creators, and audiences gives you insights, reality checks, and fresh perspectives that make your journey easier and help you avoid mistakes others have already made. Many people are held back by the fear of reaching out, but strong communication skills help anyone succeed in any field. Communities like Thumbnails 101 are full of talented people worth connecting with — the growth you get from networking far outpaces trying to learn everything alone.
3. Be intentional with social media
Take inspiration from established designers, not random "guru" accounts. Study how top-tier designers present their work, communicate ideas, and build their brands. Always ask whether your content provides value — if it doesn't help, teach, entertain, or inspire, it probably isn't worth posting. Build around your brand and target audience, and focus on attracting people who genuinely care about your work rather than chasing bots, engagement groups, or follower exchanges.
Best thumbnail you've ever made?
Best thumbnail you've ever seen?
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