Programme 1: Chad McCail - Every picture tells a story

Programme Outline

The Artist
When Chad was 23, he shared a flat in Edinburgh with a sculptor and an illustrator. This gave him the idea of becoming an artist. Chad talks about what inspires his work and what it’s like to be an artist. Chad is now 39 but it wasn’t until five years ago that he felt comfortable calling himself an artist; this coincided with a growing demand for his work. Chad makes a living as an artist and sells work nationally and internationally through Laurent Delaye Gallery, London.

Chad takes us through an existing piece of work, demonstrating how he tells a story through his pictures – how the story develops stage by stage, how each item in the picture is an essential part of the narrative and what they all mean. When he begins a piece of work, he selects what to draw according to what he is trying to say. Chad explains in detail his working methods; how he creates a ground line, then starts to draw a figure using the head as a guide and he demonstrates motion curves. He uses traditional materials: watercolour brushes, pencils and pens on paper. He works traditional hours (9am-5pm) in his studio in Edinburgh.

Chad explains why he has been working in Glen Lyon in Tayside, Scotland. He finds inspiration in the mountains, the River Lyon, and the Highland Cattle, and also likes to read and enjoy the solitude at Glen Lyon. He tells us how he likes to work as he draws and describes some of his sketches collected from the area while sitting in his cottage.

Project
The children of Glen Lyon School create their own work using a process unique to the artist. The children have written their own stories about an incident in their lives when something went wrong. They work on different ways of resolving their stories. Chad explains that the children have been asked to make drawings in their sketchbooks. This keeps images together which helps pictures link, which ultimately helps to form ideas.

Chad talks through his pictures with the children explaining how every element has a specific role to play in telling the story and nothing is superfluous. Chad works with the children on techniques of drawing characters, describing how to make them show emotion by using different colours to convey feeling – blue makes things look cold, while red can be used to make things look angry.