Aleksander Rostov, Disco Elysium’s art director and creative co-lead, breaks images down into choices an artist can control: colour, light and dark values, texture, edges and composition.
At 7:54, he separates colour from brightness to show how much information comes from value. Later, he explains soft and sharp edges through the difference between a form turning away from light and an object casting a shadow.
I’d pick this for understanding illustration, not for a step-by-step account of how Disco Elysium was made. The examples go beyond games, and the keynote spends its opening minutes on broader ideas about art before reaching those practical concepts.
Speaker: Aleksander Rostov
Event: FTW! 2024, published by Serbian Games Association
Running time: 30:37; keynote starts at 0:20
Topic: illustration and art direction
Recording and thumbnail: Serbian Games Association. Speaker credits, description and relevant auto-generated transcript passages checked on 16 October 2026.
