The artist opens up his Long Island studio space packed full
of inspirational goodies.
(Image credit: Greg Manchess)
My studio is in a small island house built in 1940, with no room for easels or even large wall space. But the back end is full of windows, and I love working in the light. I have to block direct sunlight with a piece of cardboard, but on overcast days the light is just right. I can look out across a farm field and a bank of trees filled with squirrels, chipmunks, and a variety of bird life. You know when the hawks come through as every creature freezes in place, and then they all scatter.
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Just a few of the originals I have from other illustrators. On the left is one of the first covers for Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness, which I loved as a kid. The right-hand painting is a study by John Berkey for a sci-fi cover; loose, gorgeous brushwork! The middle painting was made by the late Sandy Kossin, a phenomenal illustrator who lived a few miles from where I work now. (Image credit: Greg Manchess)
I have my lamps for painting at night, and a drafting table that can handle my larger canvases. Artists generally only paint in certain sections at a time anyway, so I can roll the canvas back and forth across the table to accommodate. I like to work flat on a hard surface, at a gentle tilt. I stand to paint like one might at an easel, but the angle is much easier on my neck, and I can see large parts of the painting all at once.
I paint primarily using oils on pre-primed linen, and lately polyester. I can store loads of paintings in one drawer because I don’t use stretcher bars, as I don’t like the bounce of a stretched canvas. You only need stretchers to prime the fabric you’re going to work on. Don’t think that you have to keep it on the stretchers. Once it’s dry, you can take it off. That way, when shipping to get them scanned, I roll the paintings image side out and insert them in a thick tube. It’s really fast and very protective.
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Copies of my widescreen novel Above the Timberline, which is based on one painting I did for a how-to video about my work. It was written over five years and contains 124 paintings.(Image credit: Greg Manchess)
In with my stacks of brushes are drum sticks, though one is missing. I’m an old drummer from way back in high school. When I’m really flying in a painting, I’m listening to music and air-drumming with my brushes, slinging paint everywhere(Image credit: Greg Manchess)
I’ve learned through long years of experience that there’s no ‘right way’ to paint. Sure, there are efficient ways, but it’s not like we’re supposed to follow someone else’s rules about it. Painting is a very personal, expressive endeavour of laying down pigment. Aren’t we supposed to be breaking rules and being creative anyway? Once you’ve gotten some simple basics down for how to go about it, then build your own method!
It’s the image that communicates, no matter how it’s created. Worry less, paint more. My studio is like that: feel it first. It’s not perfect, but I’ve learned that what’s important is the comfort; Scandinavians call it ‘hygge’. You’ll paint better if you’re comfortable, but it doesn’t have to be big or perfect.
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Mission patches I continue to design for the NASA Dragon capsule crews that go to the International Space Station. I’m currently working on the Artemis crew patch for the next Moon mission. The patch on the right, Crew 7, is the current crew, while the Crew 1 patch has actually been to the space station and back!(Image credit: Greg Manchess)
Old phones and old typewriters. I like seeing the history of technology in objects around me, and being reminded of how far we’ve come, and how far we have to go. This keeps me dreaming.(Image credit: Greg Manchess)
Being forced into a space that I like to dream in allows me to think bigger, to push ideas larger than the space around me. It helps me remember to make images and attempt things on a grand scale.
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Discover more of Greg's artwork below
An interior illustration of Chooka Frood’s house created for The Demolished Man. (Image credit: Greg Manchess)
An interior illustration for a special edition of Frozen Hell, which was the source material for The Thing. (Image credit: Greg Manchess)
Mac’s Men, an interior illustration for a special edition of Frozen Hell. (Image credit: Greg Manchess)
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