Free speech bubble SVG files

Blank on purpose

A speech bubble is a frame for words, so every one of these is left empty. There are two ways to use them. The solid bubbles are for layering: cut the bubble from white or a pale colour, cut your lettering from a dark one, and press the words on top. The outline bubbles are for a single colour: the oval outline and the square frame are bold lines about 3.5 mm wide at 100 mm, and the words go straight on to the wall, card or shirt inside them.

Leave room when you set the words. Lettering looks best when it fills about two thirds of the width of the bubble and sits a little above the middle, away from the tail. The rounded box takes two or three lines most easily. The oval suits one or two short lines, and the spiked shout has the least usable room, so keep it for a single word.

Which bubble says what

Comics settled the meanings long ago. A smooth oval is ordinary talk. A cloud with a tail is a soft or dreamy voice, and a cloud with a trail of dots is a thought that is not spoken. Spikes mean volume: a shout, a bang or a sale. Rounded boxes and pills come from phone screens, and three dots in a pill mean someone is typing. The burst with an echo line has no tail at all, because a sound effect belongs to nobody.

How to open the files

• Cricut Design Space: choose Upload, pick the SVG, and add it to the canvas. Set the width you want; the shape is already welded.
• Silhouette Studio: Designer Edition and above open the SVG. The free Basic Edition does not, so open the DXF instead.
• LightBurn, xTool Creative Space and Glowforge: import the SVG, then set the layer to cut, score or engrave.
• Inkscape, Illustrator and Affinity: open the SVG. It is a plain filled path, so you can recolour it, add a stroke or combine it with your own work.
• Printing or sublimation: use the PNG, which has a transparent background.

Each design page lists the file’s narrowest part at seven sizes, so you can tell whether it will survive at the size you plan to cut.

Questions