James Painter is a 28 year old YouTuber from Dudley, England. He has a long history working behind the scenes for some of the biggest names on YouTube in the UK such as TGFBro, The Sidemen & Will NE.
James began making YouTube videos at the age of 11, made hundreds of videos in the years that followed and only managed to amass a few thousand subscribers before giving up on his dream and taking a different approach, working behind the scenes for other creators.
The new approach worked and over a 10 year career he learned just about every skill required to run a successful YouTube channel before deciding to revisit his dream of becoming a YouTuber early this year. In just 9 videos he’s amassed over 124,000 subscribers and nearly 17,000,000 views starting from scratch in just 6 months.
Twitter (X) → x.com/JPainter_
Instagram → instagram.com/JPainter_
YouTube → youtube.com/@JPainter_
Featured design
Overview
The first thing you’ll probably notice when you look at the thumbnail is that the perspective is unusual, first person perspective thumbnails aren’t overly common on YouTube and that’s one of three reasons I decided to use this angle, this is known as the purple cow theory. Amongst a sea of similar thumbnails on YouTube, when a POV thumbnail shows up on your homepage it immediately stands out, I’ve tested the same angle on almost all of my videos and found them incredibly hard to beat in a split test.
I’m a firm believer that content is king. I may be the host of this video but I’m not overly important in somebody’s decision to click the video, especially as a smaller channel. By using the first person perspective I’m taking myself out of the equation and making the content the only focus of the thumbnail. As my channel grows this may change, but as a smaller channel with a face less recognised by the average person, I’d strongly recommend reducing the amount of screen real estate your beautiful face is taking up in your thumbnails.
You may have also noticed the array of brand logos featured in this thumbnail. This is nothing new and used to be referred to as ‘’Trend Jacking’’ but traditionally it’s done by using the names and faces of other YouTubers or trending topics in your thumbnails. It also however works just as well with recognisable brand logos that we see in our daily lives, Fortnite, Tesla, McDonalds and Playstation all appear in this thumbnail, you may not know me when the video appears on your homepage, but you’re familiar with all of those brands and psychologically you’re more likely to click a video if it feels familiar in some way.
Inspiration
This video is actually a sequel to my most popular video ‘’I Tried Storm Camping In A Tesla’’ which is sitting on around 6.5 million views so I knew going into this video that I wanted the thumbnail to fit the same aesthetic as the first video. I think it’s important that, if somebody watched your last video, at a glance they can immediately identify when they’re looking at a different video from the same creator when it appears on their homepage.
This acted as a solid base, but left me with the challenge of figuring out exactly how to make the new thumbnail different from the last while also keeping that element of subtle tension provided by the hand on the glass in the original.
Inspiration thumbnail
Assets
The beauty of this kind of angle is you don’t need a huge amount of assets and I didn’t even have to physically take any reference photos either, I simply fed my original thumbnail into Nano Banana with the following images:
Image 1) This was used to let Nano Banana know what type of McDonalds building I was trying to recreate.
Image 2) I really wanted to make sure the sign was glowing in the dark so I fed Nano this full image of the sign separately to make sure the lighting on the sign was perfect.
Image 3) This was used to give Nano Banana an exact visual of what the inside of my car looks like from a single angle that I was aiming for.
Editing
One thing I really wanted to get right with this thumbnail was the balance of chaos inside of the car, camping is messy, so going into it I wanted to include lots of food, snacks and mess inside of the car but quickly realised it was too much of a distraction. I scaled it right back to just a McDonalds bag, a spilled drink to make you feel just a little bit uncomfortable when you see the thumbnail, a PS5 and a lamp. It’s enough to catch your attention without all blending into one big mess.
This sounds like a minor decision but when I originally generated the image it was outside of a UK McDonalds building and I made the decision to change it to an American building. McDonalds in America is more globally recognised because of TV and film and not only that, but it’s more colourful allowing me to get an extra pop of red into the image.
In the original version the worker was really far away from the car and you couldn’t really see his facial expression. The day I launched the video I made one final last minute change and brought the worker closer, making it feel as if I’m just about to get caught.
Unlayered
What does a normal week look like for you right now, from idea to upload?
Once I have a concept, I always start by making 3-5 thumbnails, because there's zero value in shooting the video unless I think the packaging has the potential to go viral. I then usually spend 2-3 days scripting out the intro and planning the basics of the video, nothing too detailed, because it needs to feel natural. 3-7 days filming, 10 days editing, and then I post 1-2 days after the video's finished and I'm happy with it.
What's the hardest part of being both the "talent" and the person running the whole operation?
I think the hardest part about being an all-rounder is that I find it incredibly difficult to accept help and hand off creative control. When you know you can do something yourself, it makes it so much harder to justify paying someone else to do it for you.
What's one thing you saw working for these big creators that you deliberately copied (or avoided) on your own channel?
One thing I deliberately avoided, that works for certain channels, is filling up a third of the thumbnail scene with my face. I'm not Mr Beast, and therefore my face doesn't offer the same value in getting someone to click a video as his does. I think a common misconception amongst new creators is that if it works for him, it'll work for them.
Is there a type of video or format you're dying to try but haven't yet?
I'm really looking forward to making plane videos one day. If you look at the majority of creators, their top videos usually involve crazy plane seats, but I don't have the budget at this stage to do those videos just yet.
What's your dream goal for the channel?
The big dream is to grow the channel to a stage where I can leave some sort of positive impact on the world, whether that's through fundraisers or inspiring the next generation of YouTubers, because without that, what is it all for?
Best thumbnail you've ever made?
Best thumbnail you've ever seen?
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