The Best Way to Create YouTube Thumbnails with ChatGPT
Use these prompts to make killer thumbnails with AI
YouTube thumbnails can make or break your video.
With ChatGPT’s latest upgrade to image generation, it’s tempting to think you can generate a thumbnail in one shot. But if you want high-quality results, there’s a little more to it.
The good news? It’s still fast and easy if you use the right approach.
Here’s what I would recommend:
(And the perfect copy/paste prompt is included at the end)
➤ Think of ChatGPT as a Creator of Elements, Not Final Thumbnails
ChatGPT is amazing for generating backgrounds, cityscapes, artistic elements, and unique visuals. But it doesn’t produce the perfect YouTube thumbnail size (1280x720) and it doesn’t do text placement well.
Instead of trying to force it to make a finished thumbnail, think of ChatGPT as your personal stock photo and elements creator.
Here’s how that might work:
Looks kinda cool! But unfortunately, it doesn’t fit as a YouTube thumbnail…
This blue area needs to be filled in. That’s where a tool like Canva comes in handy. You can use the “Magic Fill” feature on Canva to automatically extend the image without impacting the proportions.
And then within Canva, you can add your text and even use the grab feature to layer elements properly.
Obviously, this isn’t a perfect thumbnail, but just using this to show you an example of what’s possible.
➤ Use Other YouTube Thumbnails as Inspiration
As Picasso said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” One easy way to improve your own thumbnails is by using ones that are already proven to be successful.
This allows you to easily re-create thumbnails from your favorite creators, such as Mr. Beast…
However, I prefer to use more creativity and use certain elements that I like. You can screenshot thumbnails from YouTube that catch your eye and upload them into ChatGPT and adjust them to your topic or niche.
Here’s how that might work…
You can then take this image into Canva and adjust it to your liking.
➤ Stock Image Generation
ChatGPT is good at creating unique and customized stock images. Whether it’s a city landscape or customized products, here’s how you might do that with prompting:
Now, as you can see, ChatGPT only generated 2 of the 3 images, but I did it again, and it created the other one properly. This is why you want to use ChatGPT to make elements, but not the finished product. It’s much easier to grab and edit objects in Canva.
➤ Take one picture and reuse it for 100 topics
ChatGPT is great at taking reference images and customizing one aspect of them. For instance, I have this picture of me eating escargot (yummy!) but I want to change it to drinking a latte.
(Note: I used the sticker feature on iPhone to pull the image from the background context)
And here’s how it might look with adding all the other elements together:
Another example:
➤ Getting Around Copyright Violations 🚫
ChatGPT can be finicky and often will stop the image generation process due to copyright restrictions.
One way around this is by asking ChatGPT to describe the attached image(s) and then paste that into a NEW chat and ask it to generate an image based on that prompt.
➤ Pro Tip: Use a New Chat for each Thumbnail Design
ChatGPT will use the data from the entire conversation to generate images, and not just what is in a specific prompt.
For example, when I tried to make the image used at the top of this page in this same conversation as generating the coffee images, this is what I got…
To combat this, you need to use a new conversation for each thumbnail design as the AI will mix and match features from previous prompts.
➤ The Perfect Prompt for Generating YouTube Thumbnails
If you’re looking for a copy/paste prompt to put into ChatGPT, then here is what I would suggest:
Create an image: Generate a hyper-realistic image of [describe your scene]. Make the image in a horizontal aspect ratio (wider than it is tall). Do not include any text, words, or titles. Style should be [describe style here, e.g., cinematic, vibrant, cartoonish, minimalist, etc.]. Prioritize bold colors, strong contrast, and clear subject focus to ensure the image will stand out as a thumbnail.
Next, you’ll copy that image into Canva and use the magic expand feature to fill out the image to the proper 1280 x 720 ratio. You can grab elements, edit, add text, and download as a high-resolution image for YouTube.
