GTA 6 cover still uses his grid, says artist Stephen Bliss

Stephen Bliss, the artist who helped give Grand Theft Auto its comic-book look, says he can spot pieces of his own work on the cover of GTA 6, even though he had no part in making it. In an interview with IGN at the Lucca Comics & Games festival, published by IGN España and IGN Brasil on October 29, Bliss said he felt "flattered" that Rockstar still builds its key art around a grid of panels with a helicopter in the top-left corner. He says he developed that layout.

The panel grid and the helicopter

Bliss was at Rockstar from 2001 to 2016. According to IGN, he played a central role in shaping the comic-inspired style of the series' promotional art, including the boxed grid that has become as recognisable as the GTA logo itself.

He told IGN he had taken a look at the GTA 6 cover. He was clear that it wasn't his work, but said that seeing the grid and the helicopter placement survive a decade after he left pleased him, and that he was thrilled the legacy carries on. He followed that with a caveat: in his view, the new cover has its own visual language, and his influence shows up only as small references. His reaction, as IGN reports it, amounted to being glad Rockstar had used those touches, while stressing that he is in no way claiming a meaningful contribution to the artwork.

That modesty matters, because the GTA 6 key art is the work of Rockstar's current art team, and Bliss doesn't suggest otherwise. What he describes is a template that outlived its designer: a layout that has come back for every main entry since his era and has now carried over to Jason and Lucia's story too.

Credit for Macbain and Olds

Bliss also didn't want the classic GTA look credited to him alone. According to IGN, he singled out fellow Rockstar artists Anthony Macbain and Steven Olds for their contributions to the series' visual identity.

He added that he has spent the years since leaving Rockstar building his own artistic identity, separate from the games, but that he remains grateful for his time on the series and for the impact it still has.

GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas

The cover art comments are only one part of a longer conversation. According to IGN España, the full interview also covers how the September 11 attacks affected the cover of GTA III, along with the creative challenges behind the very different visual styles of Vice City and San Andreas.

Bliss's remarks circulated through IGN's Spanish and Portuguese editions, so his comments are paraphrased here from those translations rather than quoted at length.

The GTA 6 key art has also been adapted for real-world marketing. For one example, see our report on the Paris banner that edited the guns out of the cover art. For a wider look at the game, our GTA 6 guide to everything we know collects the essentials, from the release date to Leonida.