Thumbnail Ruthlessly Spend 10-30 minutes creating 10-20 tiny thumbnails (200-400px) before committing to a full piece. This is where you solve composition, focal point, and storytelling, before investing hours in rendering. Pro move: Do thumbs at 30-50% opacity with a hard round brush. Test extreme crops, silhouettes, and lighting directions. Pick the 2-3 strongest and refine those into a larger color comp.