One extreme example I remember very well is The Hobbit on the ZX Spectrum. It was an illustrated text adventure using graphics to add atmosphere and interest. I suspect they used a drawing programme with scripted commands to minimise memory usage at the expense of time and sometimes fine detail to draw them.

There are a couple of good examples at 4:57 onwards. Link at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f3PFfK-9Gk

Edited to add there is a video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9qrZC7WUio of the 128k Spectrum version. Looking at the speed I suspect they pre-rendered the images in the background and used the extra memory to store them and then copy the completed image to display when needed.