2D art for games

What does your typical workflow look like when creating 2D art for games—from early concept sketches to final in-engine assets—and what parts of that process tend to cause the most friction? I’m especially interested in how you handle revisions from designers or programmers, keep art consistent across levels, and avoid redoing large chunks of work late in development.

I usually break the process into stages: concept sketches, style validation, asset production, and in-engine testing. Early alignment is key, especially with designers, so I try to validate ideas quickly before polishing anything. Revisions are inevitable, but they’re smoother when feedback is specific and prioritized. To keep consistency across levels, I rely on style guides and reusable asset libraries, similar to structured pipelines I’ve seen described here https://gamepackstudio.com/services/2d-art/ The most friction happens when changes arrive late, so I often leave some flexibility in layers and export setups. That way, tweaks don’t mean rebuilding everything from scratch.