Title Cards/Thumbnails/Things

[Brasel]

I'm looking for some feedback from people I know will give it to me straight. Do these YouTube/Blog title card thumbnail things look okay? I'm just using MS Paint and images from Google Image Search. How do you feel about using images from Google Image Search? I'll be honest, I feel a little bad taking other people's images.

amano-behemoth.jpgtitle.jpgtitle.jpgloztitle.jpg

[King Aquamentus]

You have a tendency to pick out uncommon but interesting pieces of art for your title cards, and that really works out in your favor. I would increase the amount of shadow though on The Legend of Zelda so the text shows up better. For your FF1 card, I would also try to lighten the image some (do you have GIMP? MSpaint won't be able to do this) by taking a fill tool and overlaying a very transparent white on the image a little. Again, this just makes the text easier to read. I can tell this was a concern of yours as well since you shadowed all your text, but in order for it to jump out, I think this is a good way to go.

The alternative to all of this is to darken or lighten the edges, sort of like a pinhole effect or a "dream" effect. Whatever it is, I think its just how the text shows up. There's all sorts of ways to experiment.

Here's some examples of what I mean, in terms of shaded/tinted borders. Also frosted the FF1 card a little bit. The shadow text didn't really take well cause you know, black and black. But you get the idea.

One other thing: while this won't matter at all for title cards, if you plan to use these images as icons for youtube videos (which replace an image of a clip from the video), consider the use of familiar logos so they can be quickly identified by viewers.