Hi, I'm Maria, I'm the graphic designer here, and I make the thumbnails for all our channels.
Today I'm gonna show you some of the drawings that the writers usually send me
before I start making the thumbnails, so that I have a better idea of what they want.
We're gonna start with this one, which is pretty funny.
This drawing was made by Adam.
I remember perfectly. Actually, I think I have here the screenshot
of his reaction, and he was like, I was too scared to draw his arms and hands.
Basically, I don't know, I think we ended up not having this as a thumbnail.
I don't remember, but I think it's pretty funny.
I don't know how they managed to do all the details
of the face and everything, and try to do everything to make the idea more clear to me.
This one, I think, was James. So this was a thumbnail that we did,
and maybe he was like, oh, can we add a hand to make it even better?
I don't know, I have so much fun looking at these drawings
every time, but I love when people try to do,
because I'm an artist and graphic designer, illustrator as well, so I love when people
also tries to make creative stuff. Even writers that usually,
I mean, they are not used to make drawings.
So I find it, I don't know, pretty interesting and funny. This one, I remember, and it's like a kind of recent video.
So this was Jordan's guidance, like, okay, we're having Linus scared
because the coke is falling into the PC. So he tried to, like, okay, we're having the PC,
just like the view of the top of the PC,
and this was the final result, pretty similar.
Of course, like, we did a lot of multiple shots of the PC
and just the coke, and then I Photoshopped all the, like, the coke falling into the PC.
The face is pretty similar. I'm more focused about what, is that an eyebrow,
or is that like an exclamation point for his eyes? I don't know, not that you mentioned,
because, I mean, these are the eyes, but maybe he did these eyes first.
You know, when you are a kid and you used to, like,
draw the eyes as just, like, sticks.
I don't know. I get that, but then what's the dot?
I don't know. We can ask Jordan, I don't know.
But good job, Jordan. The idea gets really clear when I have these kind of things.
This is an example of how should you usually be,
but for, I have here, an example of, like,
very weird drawings.
Riley was like, okay, make something like this.
I'm like, okay. Maybe it made a little bit more of sense in the moment.
He thumbs it up. Yes. Maybe it made sense in the moment,
but sometimes I just scrunch at this because it's just like, okay, just a couple of squares,
and like, I don't know, it's just interesting how they managed to, like, explain something.
You know, it's really difficult sometimes to get into the mind of other people,
or how they're imagining how to make things.
Okay, here I have one of my address.
This one was for this video about Google Chrome,
comparison between, like, Google Chrome on ARC,
and then Jonathan did this drawing for me,
trying to explain it like, okay, we have, like, the tabs here and everything.
We did, like, a really good job with this one, I feel.
Like, we tried to, like, make the exact UI of ARC browser here,
and, like, combine it with the Google Chrome tabs. I really like how it turned out.
So sometimes, of course, there's people who, like,
spend their time drawing the face, the eyes, the glasses,
you know, like, and sometimes, I mean, I don't blame them because, of course,
they're busy doing other things, but they just, like, draw circles like this,
and they're like, okay, here's James, here's the garage door open,
and here's the picture of a hacker, and then it's just, like, circles.
Do you prefer this style, or do you prefer, like, someone actually drawing it?
I mean, of course, I prefer, like, the real drawing.
Of course, not perfect, but they are doing this just to have, like, a general,
for me, to have a general idea. Of course, I prefer, like, more details,
but it's not extremely necessary.
I won't, like, ask everyone, like, please send me a bunch of artworks
because I know everyone is busy doing other things.
For example, I have other one here.
This was Plov, or wish set up, yeah,
like, the projector and everything they did at Linus's house.
Yeah, this one. Yeah. Actually, for this one, I remember, I was like,
I don't know, I see here, like, a camera and, like, people,
but, like, I don't understand why, like, Linus over here,
you know, like, just, like, his eyes,
and I didn't know what that meant. So I...
It looks like a bread? Or, like, a bed?
I don't know, so I remember I asked him, like, he was like, okay, no, these are, like,
the chairs and the projector, and then Linus's face here, and I was like,
maybe it should be better if we have, like,
Linus on one side, and then the projector and other stuff on the other side.
Might be better, so it doesn't look really busy.
So we ended up doing, like, kind of the general idea,
and my suggestion was, like, okay, having just the full face of Linus on one side,
other, the other stuff on the other side. What's a really, really recent one?
For Techling? Oh, yeah, okay, yeah. So usually Riley's the one who sends me a lot of drawings,
usually, because this is not, like, mandatory for everyone,
it's just, like, when I feel like it's better for them
to explain me in a better way, like, what is their concept going to be,
I ask them, like, hey, can you draw something for me,
for me to understand what you are thinking? But Riley usually does it, like, 99% of the time.
For Techling, that game length, I remember I was laughing, like, by my own here,
because I was like, what is this? Like, all of these lines, I was like, what?
And then he came to the door, like, through the door,
like, I don't know, two minutes after that, he was like, I'm sorry, I know this looks weird,
but this is, like, the wallpaper of Windows 11, I guess,
I think, and then this is the logo, and then half of the logo is, like, original colors,
and I was like, oh, okay, now I understand,
like, he was like, yes, sorry, I was, like, trying to, of course, make this,
but, of course, he's not gonna do it exactly the same,
but it's just, like, really funny. I remember he used to do, like, the whole face thing,
for example, this one, it's also Riley's drawing here,
and he made, like, the face with the glasses, and it was so cute, I remember, I was like, I love this,
but then, of course, after doing the same thing over and over, he was like, okay, I'll just do a circle
and name it James or Riley. I love how the nose says Riley, but it's the nose.
This one was for a Samsung video, oh my god, it's so difficult to sometimes search
for a tagline with thumbnails, because they have lots of colors and things,
but, yeah, for a tagline, it's super useful,
because as you can notice, we have, like,
lots of layers, transparencies, and, like,
sometimes Riley needs, like, a lot of assets
to be on the thumbnail, as we have to, like, layer them in a certain way, those drawings
help me a lot when trying to, like, make thumbnails for technique and game length.
Okay, this is another Riley, and I also screenshot what he said.
So this one was also a pretty recent thumbnail here.
So, yeah, I love how they are like, okay,
I am not going to make, like, Apple logos all over, I'm just doing circles, and all the explanation,
like, not circles, Apple logos. This is not for a, I mean, it is for a thumbnail,
but it's not, like, a whole drawing of how it's supposed to do, it's supposed to be.
Of course, I don't remember which thumbnail was this, but I just laugh, because it's just, like,
a line that does this, but I don't know how he's imagining in his head how it's gonna be flipped,
but I know it's difficult to explain, like, how do you explain you wanted to rotate a element
in a certain way, like, I mean, he did his best,
so bonus points for that.
And this was a thumbnail about, like, some cables.
I'm more curious about this triangle mouth.
That's right, that's a new one. That's a new, yeah, shape for a mouth.
One of the first thumbnails I made, if I remember.
Oh, this one. Yeah. Why is there two faces?
I don't know. I don't know. I don't remember, and I don't know.
Maybe that, like, he's happy and then he's sad.
I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. As you can notice, thumbnails have changed
since I've been working here. Like, before I started with a certain, like, style,
kind of, like, replicating what we did, like, years and years ago, but then I started to, like,
search for a different style, more, like,
realistic backgrounds and more, like, modern, like, thinking about, like, other careers,
what they are doing. So that's really important to, like, evolve
and not just stay on what we did, like, years and years ago.
Pretty happy with what we have been doing. I think ShortCircuit is the best example of ShortCircuit.
Oh, yes, ShortCircuit. Today's been very, like,
a couple of, like, months ago. I was talking to Jake Bell, who's like,
you know what, I feel sometimes there's, like, a lot of colors and stuff and, like,
I don't know, I wanted to make it more clean
and, again, modern to, like, think about, like, what's everyone doing in 2024, 2023 at the time.
Yeah, I'm trying to have, like, bigger shots of the products, cleaner backgrounds,
still with the ShortCircuit colors. This one, I think it was Jordan as well
for the Steam Deck video. Yeah, so he was like, okay, we wanna show
the back of the Steam Deck. Oh, I love when it's tried, like, to fix things,
because even though, like, it doesn't matter if the eyes are different or whatever,
like, I won't care about that, but they, like, try to, like, okay,
no, this didn't work, so they try to fix things.
It's just so cute, I love it. Yeah, I think that's pretty much it.
I mean, I have a couple more, but is there, from some, those that we didn't end up doing?
Like, this one, I think it was, like... That looks like a Mac Address.
That looks like a Mac Address, but it was actually, I think, an LTT.
I think this is a Jordan drawing, if I remember correctly, but, okay,
so I'm ready for your questions now. Like, which creators do you, like,
watch a lot to, like, take their, like, see what they're doing with their thumbnails?
So I actually follow some channels here for inspiration.
Ryan Trehan, I really love his thumbnails.
I mean, it's different content from ours, totally different, but I love the way
he uses color. I don't know, it's really, like, sparing for me.
This guy, it's more into, like, take videos like us,
and I got inspiration for him for the ShortCircuit channel,
because I used to see, like, things like this, like, floating elements,
and, like, clean backgrounds and colors, and I thought, okay, maybe we can do something
kind of similar for ShortCircuit, and I think it would work really well.
Right now, all of our channels, I kind of, like,
I'm trying to have them really clean and modern,
but I wish they were even cleaner.
I mean, I know, of course, we need, like,
Linus' face and everything to be more recognizable, but...
Classic. The classic.
Also, like, use of color, arrows, things like that.
I always search for, like, new inspirations.
Also, Mr. Who's the Boss sometimes, I like to see what he's doing.
I think the really successful video that we did for the mom-and-pop shop...
Yeah, that one was really good, I liked that one. I think it was, like, a kind of a styling
between Mr. Who's the Boss and, like,
Mr. Beast kind of thing. He loves to, like, have, like, multiple products
on the side and, like, his face around it, and I feel we did kind of, I mean,
of course, we have our own style and our own way to do it,
but, like, I got inspiration from there, and for this one, especially,
the body of Linus is actually Mr. Beast's body.
So Linus, for this one, was, like, because I had his body, like, his, of course,
his original body, and he was, like, you know what? Just grab Jimmy's, I think he won't care.
Put my face on it, like, I was, like, okay, sure.
I love the colors, like, you can see a lot of things,
but at the same time, it's not super busy. I don't know, I really like it.
Which channel's your favorite to do the thumbnails for?
Oh, so difficult!
I feel like Mac Address is more your personal favorite, because it's more artistic compared to, like,
everything else. Yes, totally. Like, and for Mac Address, the creator process
is different from the other channels, because I have, like, the time to talk with Jonathan about it,
and we sit down together, and we talk about, like,
brainstorm about different ideas. Of course, with LTT, we have more videos coming out,
and it's not that easy to, like, sit with the writer every single time,
and, like, brainstorm. So the process is different.
The writer brainstorms with Linus kind of thing, and then they send me also, like,
the guidance for me to, like, give ideas if I have other ideas.
So it's a little bit more different, but with Mac Address, yeah, I am, like, 100% involved from the start
to finish up the thumbnails. Like, I shoot also the thumbnails
for, like, the pictures for the thumbnails. I don't know why I don't like that Jonathan is really open
to, like, new ideas. Like, when we did this one that is, like, the meme of,
like, this is fine, the dog. Yeah, like, open to crazy things, and I love that.
And I love when we have also, like,
we make, like, recreation of art, or this one,
like, I really love, like, art references. So then, I guess the hardest question is,
which one is your favorite thumbnail of all time? Oh, my God.
You probably make a thousand of them, but is there any that comes to mind that is, like,
oh, this was, like, my favorite to make? Maybe because, like, it's, like, a cool story,
or, like, maybe it just looks nice? Honestly, love, I'm looking at it,
and I think that was, that is my favorite of all time, and is this one?
So with Jonathan, we were, like, we need to make it happen.
So we took the pictures and everything, and, yeah, at the moment, some people were, like,
okay, maybe that would work, or maybe should we do another thing?
But I was fighting for it. I'd never give up. I was, like, we need to release the video with this thumbnail.
And then, after some time, we changed the thumbnail, because I remember we had a different thumbnail for YouTube.
On Floatplane, we had this one. People on Floatplane and Reddit were, like,
we love this idea, we love this thumbnail. I was, like, yes, please, we need to have it on YouTube.
So we changed it back to this one on YouTube,
and it did really well, I think. It was really cool, because it was the first time
we did, like, something completely out of
the normal process and everything. And, of course, Mac Address and, like, Apple products,
and I, I mean, you see my whole setup is Apple, so.
Okay, Floatplane, thanks for watching. Hope you liked this video, and let us know
if you like this kind of content, this kind of videos.
Yeah, see you on the next one. Bye!