Is He Saying Anything?

This young artist is male, eight years old.

I would suggest that the exchange demonstrates the immediacy of the cartooning experience for the young creator. He doesn't think of the page (a single panel) as a concept, as an idea that exists in and of itself, independent of his own rendering of it. The act of drawing IS the present moment of the story. If he has not written in the word bubble, then the character is NOT speaking. (An older artist might have answered, "YES, but I haven't written it in yet...")

Could this be why most younger artists show a distinct lack of interest in collecting their comics in book form? The act of drawing is the act of playing, it's the very moment of CREATION that is the moment of EXISTENCE for the story. After that moment, the story is past... and we're moving on to something else.