New Channel Art and Tip Sheets (Patreon)

Friends: 

It's a new year and it's time to make some changes for the better. I've been unhappy with my thumbnails for a long time. I like the blueprint background and the aesthetic of the technical drawing. 

But the background I was using was too bright and often clashed with the photos I wanted to use. Some of my thumbnails were downright ugly.

This one's pretty bad. The green of the picture just doesn't go with the blue and the whole thing looks too bright. But I like the way my thumbs stand out on the YouTube page. 

So what to do? Go retro!

I decided to stick with the blueprint aesthetic but make it more realistic. I have a bunch of old blueprints on my office wall and none of them look like my old thumbs. They're way more subdued. So, I changed the background and went for a more faithful and old-looking blueprint style. I'm also going to use drawings instead of pictures for most of my thumbs. They looks better with this style and they communicate the technical, nuts-and-bolts theme of my channel. 

Here's the result: 

I think this style will still stand out online, but it will also be more professional-looking. 

Another change in the New Year is that I want to start doing articles and plans for more of my builds. I like to write, but most build articles are a little dull. I cover things pretty well in my videos and I don't want to drive people to an unnecessary article just to get them to my website or get some money from ads. 

So, I came up with the Tip Sheet. It's like a combination of simple plan and build article, all in one page. Like this: 

These will be free on my website and of course, Patrons will get early access. I'll embed links to tools and materials right in the text. I won't do these for every video, but I will for most of them, and I'll do some traditional plans, too. 

The goal for this year is to make the whole thing more professional-looking. This business is really starting to pick up steam and it's time to up my game. 

Now, does anyone know where I can get a decent DSLR camera for a reasonable price? Because that would be HUGE. 

Happy Friday!

--Rex