diff --git a/src/index.c b/src/index.c
index 7a2f5fc404ae55698f988752bc4bc30cf4e17f06..fbc25b8fb485322e094f25d713b7c37521484298 100644
--- a/src/index.c
+++ b/src/index.c
@@ -149,7 +149,8 @@ void init_index_mode(void)
 	im_main = imlib_create_image(index_image_width, index_image_height);
 
 	if (!im_main)
-		eprintf("Imlib error creating index image, are you low on RAM?");
+		eprintf("Failed to create %dx%d pixels (%d MB) index image. Do you have enough RAM?",
+				index_image_width, index_image_height, index_image_width * index_image_height * 4 / (1024*1024));
 
 	if (bg_im)
 		gib_imlib_blend_image_onto_image(im_main, bg_im,
diff --git a/src/thumbnail.c b/src/thumbnail.c
index 08da0b2b31dc435c175b945c244fa3968dfd3896..edf0f4f7513fd69df1cb2e1d3cae1572584920cd 100644
--- a/src/thumbnail.c
+++ b/src/thumbnail.c
@@ -144,12 +144,14 @@ void init_thumbnail_mode(void)
 
 	index_image_width = td.w;
 	index_image_height = td.h + title_area_h;
-	D(("imlib_create_image(%d, %d)", index_image_width, index_image_height));
+	D(("imlib_create_image(%d, %d)\n", index_image_width, index_image_height));
 	td.im_main = imlib_create_image(index_image_width, index_image_height);
-	gib_imlib_image_set_has_alpha(td.im_main, 1);
 
 	if (!td.im_main)
-		eprintf("Imlib error creating index image, are you low on RAM?");
+		eprintf("Failed to create %dx%d pixels (%d MB) index image. Do you have enough RAM?",
+				index_image_width, index_image_height, index_image_width * index_image_height * 4 / (1024*1024));
+
+	gib_imlib_image_set_has_alpha(td.im_main, 1);
 
 	if (td.im_bg)
 		gib_imlib_blend_image_onto_image(td.im_main, td.im_bg,