THOUGHT BUBBLE MONTH 2026! Time to catch up with another of this year’s Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch‘ artists as we talk to First Graphic Novel Award finalist Yu-Ching Chiu about her work. Kick back and enjoy our final (probably!) pre-Thought Bubble interview as Yu-Ching chats about pandemic comics, comics without words, and how being shortlisted for a major award boosted her career trajectory…
ANDY OLIVER: Let’s start by asking you to introduce yourself to the Broken Frontier readers and tell us about your wider artistic background?
YU-CHING CHIU: I am an illustrator who creates comics, picturebooks or any other forms of visual narrative.
AO: What was your entry point into comics? What first drew you to the form as your medium of choice?
CHIU: I’ve always loved storytelling through images. I studied filmmaking for my undergraduate, which I believe has quite an influence on my work. But before I came to the UK to study a masters in illustration, I didn’t really have any concept about what comics or graphic novels can be or do. It was during my masters course that I first explored this medium. I realised then this was a storytelling form that I could work with.
AO: I first discovered your work back in 2021 when I reviewed your short comic Lulu’s Flight. Why did you choose that very different approach and perspective to a story about the pandemic?
CHIU: Lulu’s Flight was my very first attempt at making a wordless sequence, which was initially a theme assigned by our tutor at the masters course. I later developed the project into the 20-page short comic piece. It was created when I was alone in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic, missing my family in Taiwan terribly but unable to travel back home due to the travel restrictions, especially because people in Taiwan worried that travellers from abroad would bring in the virus.
Around that time, I came across some statements from health organisations suggesting the pets were unlikely to catch COVID-19. I imagined sending my dog Lulu from Taiwan to the UK, traveling the other way round, would be a perfect solution – she just needs to take the flight!
AO: Last year I had immediately pencilled you onto our Six to Watch list for this year after reading your outstanding comic The Wall and the Uncharted Land of which I said “I suspect this is likely to be one of the very best short comics I review this entire year at Broken Frontier.” What were the themes you were exploring in that story?
CHIU: The Wall and the Uncharted Land is about someone who lives with a mental block making a significant choice. The main character, a little rabbit, keeps seeing “the wall” and has to deal with the intrusive imagery through different ways, including deciding whether to step into the unvisited world behind it.
AO: Your comics largely use wordless sequences. Why do you prefer to work that way? Do you find it a challenge to tell stories without words and exposition or, conversely, is it a more liberating process?
CHIU: It is naturally how I visualise the story in my head. Partially because of my previous training as a filmmaking student, I always break down the narrative into frame by frame when I develop the story, and the use of words or any conversations is not necessarily involved in that process. I am very familiar with this specific type of visual language, where I can (and have to) consciously plan what to show within the frame, because the readers would rely on everything shown but not told to understand the story.
AO: You were shortlisted for the First Graphic Novel Award for 2025 for A Sleigh No One Knows. It’s a project that has very deep themes to it. Can you give us a brief synopsis?
CHIU: A Sleigh No-One Knows is a combination of personal struggle and philosophical queries, set in several unusual environments and occasions. The story involves a depressed rabbit, an intelligent sheep who is going through an existential crisis, and a bizarre island which is actually a part of a ludicrous military project run by humans. The sleigh, which is first found by the characters in the most unusual way, is a metaphor for the meaning of life – whatever that is – that prompts the characters to move from one space to another, just like how we carry on in life even though we might never have the answer.
AO: How much of a boost to you was getting that shortlisting for something as prestigious as the First Graphic Novel Award?
CHIU: Personally, it was a huge confidence boost to me in handling a long-form narrative. It also made me more determined in bringing this book to life. I know I don’t need permission but somehow I felt that I had gotten an official validation on moving the project forward, that it was going somewhere and I had to keep going. Career-wise, I have got more attention from the comics community and industry. People start to recognise me as the artist who “has a story about a rabbit and a sheep” and “draws in detailed pencil art”. I also built some really useful connections in the industry because of the award.
AO: Your work is gorgeously illustrated with the most stunning, intricate artwork. Can you tell us about your creative process and the mediums you work in?
CHIU: For comics and book projects, I start by making quick and small thumbnails. They are like the visual notes for me to transfer the story in my head onto the paper. And then I cut these thumbnails out and rearrange them on another big piece of paper, so I can develop the sequence in a tangible way. After that, I move the sequences to the actual page layout, and carry on with making the roughs and finally, the finals. In terms of the illustrations itself, I draw in graphite pencil on paper, and finalise the artwork in Photoshop where I use customised digital brushes to add more details.
AO: What advice would you have to newer creators about getting your work seen and building a network in UK comics? What has helped you in establishing an audience for your comics?
CHIU: Keep making work – only through making work consistently can you form a system. And then find the people who support your system. Put your work out there so you can get feedback, whether it’s entering competitions, attending workshops or critic groups, tabling at fairs…etc. The comics community is always very kind in my experience and people are willing to help each other.
AO: And, finally, what’s next for Yu-Ching Chiu? Are there any other comics projects you can tell us about?
CHIU: My first graphic novel is still in progress and it’s the only comics project that I am working on at the moment. It has been almost two years since I first started it and it’s definitely taking much more time than I thought! The structure of the story has changed and evolved a lot since my entry to the First Graphic Novel Award, and so has the way I work. I am bringing the first part of the book as a preview version to Thought Bubble this year, and I am very excited to see what people think about its transformation so far!
You can visit Yu-Ching’s website here and digital comics store here. Follow her on Instagram here.
Interview by Andy Oliver
Yu-Ching Chiu is at Table D35b in the Redshirt Hall Hall at Thought Bubble.
Thought Bubble 2026 runs from November 9th-15th with the convention weekend taking place on the 14th-15th. More details on the Thought Bubble site here.
Read all our Thought Bubble 2026 coverage so far in one place here.
Poster art by Núria Tamarit
