Illustrations That Prove Speech Bubbles Can Tell Their Stories Without Words

Long Story Short

Tang Yau Hoong is an artist, illustrator, graphic designer based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. With a passion for creative thinking, he creates art that is conceptual, surreal and fun in a simplistic and unique way. Since 2007, he works with various clients globally in advertising, editorial, branding, corporate, marketing, and many other design projects. When he is not doing commercial work he enjoys making art and immerses himself in his personal projects.

According to an artist: “Speech bubbles are graphic convention used most commonly in comics, cartoons, and illustrations. Instead of putting words into it to represent speech or thoughts of a character, what if the speech bubble itself has its own expression and characteristic?

In this series of illustrations, I wanted to explore the possibilities of telling a story or conveying a message by speech bubbles themselves graphically, without words.”

More: Tang Yau Hoong, Instagram, Foundation h/t: boredpanda

Lie

“The drawing itself was a rather quick process as most of the time went to brainstorming. It probably took thirty minutes for a drawing to complete but hours for brainstorming and sketching. Sometimes it takes days to come up with an idea that I like.

I would usually do as many random sketches as possible as I sometimes would let my pencil do the thinking. I guess my quirky and weird thoughts are hiding somewhere in my brain so all I need to do is keep looking and digging. One of the things that really helps me in this process is I usually need a quiet environment while brainstorming.”

Storytelling

“Personally, I face creative blocks almost all the time and this little speech bubbles project is one of the things that I do to relax and recharge. To me, it is very important to do something different from my usual style and not think of how well it might be received by the audience. As an artist, it could be a hard decision to make as consistency plays a critical role in my career. Yet, taking a break from my usual style has never failed to surprise me and motivate me to keep moving forward.”

Horror Story

“It could be overwhelming to insist on developing a unique style as there are so many great creators. The recent emergence of artificial intelligence-generated art can even replicate and create virtually anything so as an artist I think it is no longer how unique my style is but the emotions, feelings, and messages that I can deliver through my creations.”

Food Talk

“I’m currently working on a new series of magical realism illustrations which I hope can be a new collection of mine in the near future (please go to my Instagram for more updates!). For longer-term goals, I would really hope that I can create my art on a larger scale and in different mediums such as canvas, and animations, and probably have my own exhibition one day.”

Dirty Talk

Gamers Talk

Music Talk

Verbal Abuse

Relaxing Talk

Girls Talk

War Of Words

No Talking

Beatboxing

Useless Talk

Space Talk

WTF

Cheers

Money Talk

Crap Talk

Breakfast Talk