Original GTA artist: GTA VI cover isn't mine, but the grid and helicopter are
Stephen Bliss, who worked at Rockstar from 2001 to 2016, says he had nothing to do with the GTA VI cover. He's still flattered that the grid layout and the top-left helicopter carry on.
Stephen Bliss, a Rockstar Games artist from 2001 to 2016, told IGN at Lucca Comics and Games that he is flattered to see parts of his original designs live on the Grand Theft Auto VI cover, even though he had nothing to do with the cover itself. He is the artist credited with defining the pop art and comic book look of the series.
Still, the box grid is there, and so is the helicopter in the top left corner. Both are things he developed. I like that a layout idea from the GTA III days is still holding up the newest box. Bliss described the new cover as "its own language" with "little references" to his work, and said he isn't claiming to have contributed to it massively.
The grid goes back to GTA III. Bliss says the original white cover took him six months to paint. The post-9/11 nonviolent update, built around a grid of images, took about two nights.
He is just as clear about GTA V. He did not work on its cover, and he tells fans who bring GTA V covers to his signings exactly that.
He also doesn't want to take all the credit for the look of the games. He names fellow Rockstar artists Anthony Macbain and Steven Olds as major contributors, and says Olds taught him a lighting technique used for San Andreas.
