Concept art is a hugely important aspect of game development, as it is the moment when great game ideas are visually represented before actual assets can be produced for the game itself.
Concept artists can be expected to do a lot with limited time and resources, while AI is also being seen as an existential threat to their work. Yet while it may be tempting to learn more tools and attain a higher level of perfection, senior concept artist Gargi Roy says, "Perfection is often one of the biggest obstacles to creativity. The goal isn't to create perfect drawings; the goal is simply to think and generate ideas as quickly as possible."
Having previously worked at Rockstar Games as a concept artist on GTA 6, Roy has had her share of working on huge projects. It was also actually around this time in 2020 that she discovered the 80:20 rule (also known as the Pareto principle, or the law of the vital few), which she shared its applications to concept art in a talk at this year's Develop: Brighton.
Using her concept art for an alchemist workshop, Roy said that, as well as focusing less on details and chasing perfection, planning is just as integral to the creative process so you have direction and purpose before trying to execute an idea.
"Instead of collecting 500 reference images first, and thinking later, I define categories first, like architectural style, interior, exterior, furniture, props, tools, overall mood and lighting, colour palette, materials, and design language. Now I'm not just gathering images; I'm solving a specific visual problem. That is a huge 80:20 shift."
This principle doesn't mean you should use fewer tools, as Roy recommended avoiding starting anything from scratch as "the blank canvas is actually where most of our time gets wasted." For her, this can involve using 2D kitbashing, which involves combining different visual references and then painting over them, but also 3D renderers like Blender, where basic tools, camera setup, and quickly setting up lighting can establish the mood. "I'm not trying to be a technical artist. I'm trying to build a useable base for painting."
When referring to the toolkit, Roy means techniques that give you a shortcut to the biggest return. One of these is the Big Medium Small theory, where big shapes define structure, medium shapes the context, and small shapes give detail. Explaining how that applies to the 80:20 shift, Roy says, "Instead of thinking of the alchemist workstation as a single object, it's a large structural form, a group of medium-sized elements that give it context, and some small details that add personality. It's almost like building Lego systems rather than sculpting everything from scratch. You're creating systems by combining simple shapes together into something complex."
Another important application of the 80:20 rule comes from creating a repeatable workflow that frees up mental energy by removing unnecessary decision-making. One example Roy gives is her cinematic concept art workflow used when she wants to create key frame images for an important story moment.
"I'm going to start with some very loose thumbnails, keeping it brutally simple; I'll only care about three things: composition, silhouette, and camera angle," she explained. "The only questions I'm asking at this stage are: can you tell what the image is about instantly? Can you tell where the focus is? Does your eye know where to go first?"
Even after finding the right ideas and then moving on to a second refining stage, she added that this should still be a loose but clear roadmap. "Everything else stays loose, almost intentionally unfinished, because the biggest mistake we can make at this stage is trying to finish the image too early. You lose hierarchy, you lose clarity."
Even when it's time to polish a piece of art, Roy stressed that this shouldn't mean adding more but refining what already exists. "Before I understood the 80:20 rule, I was working extremely long hours, feeling exhausted, and eventually I realised that the problem wasn't motivation. The problem was I was focusing my energy in all the wrong places. So, my 20% became planning before execution, understanding the purpose of every stage, knowing what questions I needed to answer, using tools intentionally, and focusing on the elements that actually carry the image."
Roy ended her talk by also shattering the myth of the genius artist that many artists fall into the trap of aspiring to. Instead of trying to reach an impossibly high bar, it's about working with the vital few elements that get results. "You don't need to master everything, you just need to start with the 20% that matters," she concluded. "If a scene feels too big, start with one prop. If a software feels overwhelming, just learn the 20% you actually use. If a painting feels tough, don't add more detail. Step back, simplify, reframe, because almost always, the answer is rarely more details. More often, it's better decisions."
You can follow Gargi Roy on Instagram and ArtStation.
