Easiest to learn youtube thumbnail making software

[nordpass]

I am a casual youtube creator (once in 6 months or a year).
I am looking to make thumbnails.
I cannot spend too much time or money.
I tried ai tools. They do a fine job for free even.
I am looking for some software FOSS.
I make faceless videos.
My expected source of revenue is affiliate links.
How can I do? What software can I use?

 

[Ryuzaki]

Probably Canva. It's basically a drag and drop editor with pre-made elements and even full blown templates you can change. There's a free tier that'll do anything you need.

But really, you'd be well served to learn Photoshop. If you don't want to spend the money on it there's an open source image editor called GIMP that will do most of what Photoshop can do.

 

[nordpass]

canva is asking money. i being a casual creator cannot afford to waste money. i am thinking about getting a good udemy course on gimp. do you recommend any? i see courses are over 30 hours, which is terrifying. I want something that gets me started with gimp.

 

[Ryuzaki]

If you want to learn Gimp, I'd download it, install it, and start messing with it. When you encounter a problem, search for the solution. You don't need a giant course. Just learn what you need as you go. But even a 30 hour course, to learn everything you need and never need to worry about it again... seems like a bargain and a good trade of time.

Or you could use Canva, which again has a free tier that's very popular amongst YouTubers that don't want to learn a full-fledged image editing program. The free tier does exists and they go to great lengths to make sure you know about it, such as putting it in the header of the website. See below:

There might be other options out there but I'm not aware of them. Canva seems like it's what would suit you the best.

 

[Nonbeardedman]

I'll second Canva. It's the most simplest for your use. Canva also has some built-in templates you could use too.

Paid plan is for those people who want added convenience and premium visual features. You probably want the convenience but you won't have much use of the premium elements if your looking to design simple thumbnails.

You would need a bit of basic graphic design and design knowledge regardless of what you choose. So if you're looking to learn, learn some basic graphic design principles and design using the basic elements given to you on canvas; such as the shapes, frames, images, colours etc. tools

Also rather than GIMP, I'd suggest you use PhotoPea as a true Photoshop alternative. It runs on the browser and has almost the same features as Photoshop. GIMP has a steeper learning curve, and you're right to be fearful of that udemy course — GIMP has a lot of powerful features, but it gets complex fast.