Update: Bittersweet Candy Bowl book.

What you’re seeing there is the first BCB book in existence. Kinda looks like a manual for something, don’t it? Nope, it hasn’t gone on sale yet. That’s just a mere test book to see how the quality would look like. How does it feel in the hands of the organizer? Well, here’s a quote from Oliver Bareham once again:

It’s surprisingly big and thick! (that’s what Paulo said) Plus this version is about 50 pages short of what the real one will be. The one I have is 260mm. This is not going to work with $4 large letter postage.

I’m not allowed to show you the cover, unfortunately. It was an old idea that I got Veronica to do a quick sketch for, and she’s embarrassed about the sketch part.

I’m mostly happy with the quality, the paper is kind of blindingly bright though. I’m disappointed in the printing of the cover, it seems like it was done on a consumer laserjet—sure, it’s glossy, but it fucks up gradients and looks cheap up close. The interior, which I submitted at 300dpi because I had trouble compressing the PDF otherwise, really doesn’t look that great and needs 600dpi to work, I think. Also, while it’s to be expected, the summer vacation and newer chapters look so much better than the box comics.

I’ll continue testing – the next book will be a 30-page short one, testing different level and dpi options for the nicest interior pages.

Here’s hoping it comes out right!

You can read more info and progress on the book over at the Official Bittersweet Candy Bowl forum.

Bittersweet Candy Bowl to be set in paper.

Kudos if you get the reference.

That’s right, according to Oliver Bareham (the husband of the author), Bittersweet Candy Bowl will be having its own book. Here’s an excerpt of the announcement:

So, as I petition Veronica to start working on artwork for a bunch of interesting merchandise I think we can put up for sale, the real thing we’ve wanted to do for ages is finally on track (I think.)

Basically I’ve just submitted my third order to Lulu for the first proof copy of the first BCB volume. It’s 430 pages and covers the comic up until chapter 47. It’s the third order because they kept rejecting my PDFs, but I think I finally got it right this time.

After we get the book, we’ll work on a final draft of the book, order it, do some final revisions, and then we can sell it! I expect June\July will be the relevant time.

So, yeah, expect that in a few months.

I am personally excited about this release and can’t wait to buy it myself. You can view and discuss all the details in the official Bittersweet Candy Bowl forum.

That ends this post. Thanks for reading and good night.

Make it come to life.

As you might know, I thoroughly enjoy reading webcomics. So much so that I printed one of them (Better Days if you’re wondering and yes, all 600+ strips of it) and even had it book bound just so I can carry it around. That book of mine was sadly lost though thanks to some inconsiderate person.

That isn’t the subject of this post though. While that book was in my possession, it often stayed in my bedroom. There, I occasionally read through it, always giving voices to the characters. It wasn’t just reading it aloud with a monotonous voice, I would shift my voice just to fit the characters. With the majority of the cast being girls, I often did female voices and would laugh at myself on how silly I sounded. That also depended on the mood of which the characters were in so my voice wasn’t really constant and often followed their emotions.

Where it all began.

It’s fascinating how something minimal can really bring life to a character. It’s also an effective way of getting attached to the characters and more importantly, the comic’s story or theme as a whole. With you lending yourself to portray the character’s emotions, you can’t help but feel giddy when they’re happy or downright miserable when they’re down. So you might say, an animated version with proper voice actors and all the jazz of said webcomics would be amazing! Sadly, that doesn’t always work out. Take this for example:

Now, I do occasionally read CAD and think it’s an OK comic (pretty funny at times) but that video was just… randomly unfunny. It might be the less than fluid animation, or rather the voices. I’d have to admit though that Lilah’s voice is quite fitting but Ethan’s and Lucas’? Not so much. Point is, it felt dull and pretty much just made the characters more 2D. Maybe some music would’ve made it a lot better? If so, let’s move on to VGCats’ atttempt:

Now that’s a lot better. Though the whole animation part is gone, it just has an overall better vibe to it. The voices really fit the characters’ scenes and actions (Krug and Pantsman and the “World of Pain” ones were awesome) and there’s music! Appropriately used music if I may add. Music is a double-edged sword. Use it badly and you’ve got yourself a pretty boring or cliche scene but use it well and it really pays off. It’s even much better when the characters are the ones doing the singing. Not convinced? Well, here’s a little experiment for you.

If you’ve read up on Bittersweet Candy Bowl (which I really recommend doing as it’s a charming webcomic and because you won’t get anything that’s going on in the chapter), you’ll notice that chapter 24 is filled with songs. Now, instead of reading it plainly, try singing the lyrics (that is, if you know the tune of the song of course) or read them along with the song playing. It’s a truly joyous experience as every song just fits the scene perfectly. The title of the songs are posted in the “Author’s Comments” section located directly below the comic strip but just in case you’re lazy, here are the links to the songs:

1. Como Si No Nos Hubieramos Amado (Page 1. Play until 1:11) (Translation)
2. I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing (Page 2. Play until 1:18)
3. If I Could Fall In Love (Page 3. Play until 1:18)
4. White Flag (Page 4. Play until 0:24)
5. Cool (Page 4. Start at 0:35; play until 0:59)
6. Si Yo Me Vuelvo A Enamorar (Page 4. Finish the song if you like) (Loose translation)

And that’s about it. Hope you enjoyed the little experiment.

That ends this post. Thanks for reading and good day.

PS. If you could translate the last song correctly, please inform me. I’d greatly appreciate the effort. Thanks.

Intensely bitter, incredibly sweet.

Now that I’ve read through the entire webcomic up until the latest one, I can finally give my full opinions about it. Yep, this is merely a follow-up to my first post, so welcome back Bittersweet Candy Bowl! Please note once again that there WILL be spoilers. If you don’t want to be spoiled, leave immediately!

Link to the webcomic: http://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/

The gang’s!… not complete here…

From where I stopped (which I have sadly forgotten, but I think it was Chapter 28 or even earlier), the drama was kicking in. The direction of the comic was taking a turn from a very light-hearted and quite plotless comedy to an often thought-provoking and heart-tugging drama (I should stop with the hyphenated words). Happily though, the comedy was still intact when the drama rolled in and at often times balanced the theme,  which in turn didn’t evolve into a whole bawling-your-eyes-out webcomic wherein it’s just asking you to take it really seriously. This is what’s so great about Bittersweet Candy Bowl, it doesn’t go all out with the drama, it just kinda knows when to stop and give you a breather or something.

Smooth move Paulo.

New characters have joined the fray, both main and sub characters. One main character introduced to us is Abbey, a gentle and loving bunny (who is weirdly considered a cat). However, this “pansy” (as Paulo would put it) of a character can become very cross and help out those who are in need whatever means necessary. He has a troubled past which makes him quite an unstable character. Another character is Tess, a senior (was a junior when the gang met her) who acts as the gang’s “school guide” for their freshman year. She is a protective and encouraging (albeit persuasive) female. She too has a dark and rather troubled past regarding her past years in the school and in the long run haunts her present. Despite this, the gang still accepts her as a friend and is often protected when unsolicited violence comes knocking up her door.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that the chapters are divided up into several arcs in the archive section. These chapters focus on a specific event in their lives. For example, the Old Flame Arc heavily focuses on Mike’s infatuation with Sandy.

As said earlier, the plot has thickened a lot. Character development is now one of the main focuses of the webcomic and a common method of developing a character in this webcomic is through flashbacks. I can’t count how many flashbacks have happened. It’s not one of those quick flashbacks either where only one scene is shown. Sometimes, a whole chapter is dedicated to one’s flashback. It works really well in narrating the past of the characters.

A scene from a memory…

The story has increasingly become deeper, focusing on Lucy’s troubled state with Mike. The following chapters have focused on developing both characters very intricately in a way that you somehow get attached to them (mostly with Lucy). These string of events don’t leave the other characters ignored and at bay though as they too have their time of shining with their own development.

The art has improved by a mile, even the text is now readable most of the time. Chapter 47 is where the style truly changes from traditional black and white media inking to fully digital with color and shading, even. The result is amazing and makes the comic much more attractive. The characters look much more refined and it even mimics the style of the old comics with a pop-art theme. Despite these major changes, the cutesy is still there front and center.

New art style, still immensely adorable.

Overall, I still think it’s a well-written and amusing webcomic. By reading through the whole thing however, it isn’t just well-written and amusing, but a very thorough and incredibly enjoyable webcomic. A deep and compelling storyline coupled up with interesting and captivating characters make this webcomic an absolute gem among others. Only a few from my list of recommended webcomics have captured my emotions (Better Days and a little bit of Jack if you’re wondering) and this is one of them. Undeniably, this is one of the best I’ve ever read.

Thanks for reading and good day!

First post and a delectable webcomic.

Hello and welcome to the world of “It’s Pronounced As ‘Foe’.” There won’t be anything specific here, it’s pretty much just some place I’ll be posting in whenever I feel like it so that might be a problem keeping this alive (hence the tag line). But meh, you can expect anything from this blog.

For the first post, I’ll be introducing a webcomic called Bittersweet Candy Bowl.

http://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/

Before anything, may I just point out that yes, it has quite a feminine name and that banner really doesn’t help in dousing the feminine ring to it. But I assure you gentlemen, it’s not in anyway so girly that you’d be hung for reading it. Think of it as the Powerpuff Girls (admit it, you liked that show and it kicked major ass).

So yes, let’s proceed with this introduction. Note though that I’ve not yet finished reading the rest of the webcomic so do forgive me for any plots I will be missing. Also, spoiler warning!

Bittersweet Candy Bowl is a webcomic about two childhood friends, namely Michael (Mike for short) and Lucy. It’s a pretty basic slice-of-life themed webcomic, where everything in the comic could happen in real life (except for the talking pets). The story progresses through time so they grow up and age.

Bittersweet Candy Bowl’s cast is quite the interesting one. I personally don’t find any of them boring as they all add some spice to the webcomic. Up first is Mike, a humble and  thoughtful main male character of the webcomic. He’s quite the charmer but is very sensitive to loud sounds and is subjective to the cold (which is why he wears a scarf). He is the childhood friend of Lucy, a tomboy (kinda) and the tough main female character of the webcomic. She has a deficiency though, and that is her left ear, which is deaf. She wears a big pink bow, given to her by her mother. They are quite the rivals at mostly anything because of Lucy’s nature to beat Mike at everything he does.

Absolutely anything.

This friendly rivalry dates way back in their preschool days, where they first met.

They’re accompanied by their pets. Lucy has Yashy, a little Yoshi-like female who likes running her mouth a lot, so much so that she frequently gets punted off-screen by the characters because of her excessive insults towards them. She is friends with Mike’s pet, Blur, a bluebird that Mike saved one day. He is named so because he has amnesia and could not remember his name.

Pretty much explains both characters.

Them being as pets, both of them cannot always be around our two main characters, so come in the supporting cast: Their friends from school.

Not really the best picture of all 5 of them…

First off, we have Daisy (leftmost), a smart feline who has quite the crush on Mike (she even calls her Mikie). She is usually happy and very carefree. She wears a necklace, a gift from her parents. Next up is Paulo (the one with the bleeding head), another feline who is your typical pervert. He always hits on Lucy who always beats him up whenever he tries his charms on her. Despite this, he is very confident and handsome (Lucy said that). Last to the fray is David (middle), a dimwitted canine who knows nothing better than to think of sexual innuendos. He is the only dog in their circle of friends and I must say he’s pretty random at times, so random that he’s funny.

They end up staying together, even through high school, meeting new friends along the way. So yes, the cast does increase in time.

Now we move on to story.

Yep, definitely has its moments.

As said before, it’s your typical slice-of-life webcomic. There’s no extraordinary thing happening here. It’s mostly light-hearted and geared towards comedy, but it has its serious times (also sprinkled with comedy). As far as my reading goes, there have been quite the number of serious events in the webcomic, all of which develops a character even further. They’re also very interesting and engaging, not a long, dragged-out essay about them. Overall (from what I’ve read), it’s a really fun and enjoyable read. No chapter has bored me yet and I’m excited to see what happens in the following ones.

Reeled me in like a sucker.

The art is a bit to be desired though. At times, you cannot make out what the characters are doing unless you stare at it for some time. It is however, cute and it fits the theme of the webcomic. This problem also translates to the text which is barely readable at times. Happily, it gets better. Judging from the latest strip, it looks rather nice and still keeps the cutesy factor.

So yeah, if you have the time (it’s 450+ pages long and counting) I definitely recommend reading this rather surprisingly well-written and amusing webcomic.

That ends my first post. Goodnight.