Bittersweet Candy Bowl

About

Featuring a comprehensive cast list, frequently asked questions and author information, this page will get you up to speed on all things BCB!

Cast of Characters

Major Characters

Lucy

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Nov 7
Age: 15
Breed: Khao Manee

Our female protagonist. Sometimes sweet and sometimes mean, Lucy is wrought with insecurity and would rather punch you in the face than expose it.

Michael

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Aug 10
Age: 15
Breed: Korat

Our male protagonist. A star athlete and regular “nice guy”, Mike often finds that the girls who vie for his attention are the source of most of his problems.

Daisy

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Sep 27
Age: 15
Breed: Selkirk Rex-Ragamuffin

Smart and hardworking, this bubbly cheerleader spends her time immersed in books. She longs to be more than everybody’s “little sister”.

Paulo

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Apr 16
Age: 15
Breed: Somali

Paulo spends more time hitting on girls than paying attention to class. Despite his talent for timewasting, he is fiercely loyal and will always stand up for his friends.

David

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Feb 22
Age: 14
Breed: Chocolate Labrador

Chipper and dimwitted David sees the world a little differently to those around him. His distance from the others sometimes yields surprisingly astute observations.

Abbey

First Chapter: #23
Birthday: Jul 25
Age: 15
Breed: Abbyssinian

Bound by a strong moral code, Abbey struggles to balance his protective nature with his short temper. While he may butt heads with the more easygoing members of the class, he’s working on it.

Minor Characters

Sue

First Chapter: #4
Birthday: Jan 4
Age: 15
Breed: European Burmese

Always busy behind the scenes, Sue's interest in the dramatic doesn't always extend to her social life. She'd much rather be writing or directing.

Amaya

First Chapter: #4
Birthday: Dec 11
Age: 15
Breed: Tabby

Mild-mannered popcorn merchant Amaya is Sue's best friend. She chooses to remain mute. Her job at the cinema can sometimes be very useful to those who know her!

Sandy

First Chapter: #15
Birthday: Mar 14
Age: 16

Mike’s very own green light on the horizon, Sandy is Mike’s earliest childhood friend and his current love interest. Having found success as a young model, she struggles with the demands of work, school and a budding long-distance relationship.

Jasmine

First Chapter: #55
Birthday: Aug 14
Age: 14

A peppy freshman girl whose life is dominated by school activities. While she’d ordinarily keep to her own group of friends, Jasmine has taken an immediate liking to Paulo, happily adopting the role of his girlfriend and principal partner-in-crime.

Jessica

First Chapter: #32
Birthday: Mar 15
Age: 16

Jessica is a proud, quick-witted member of the cheerleading team who is never afraid to voice her opinion. Together with her closest friend Rachel, she has been quick to offer compassion to Daisy.

Rachel

First Chapter: #32
Birthday: Feb 11
Age: 16

A true flirt, Rachel revels in playful jokes that make light of those around her. While her open nature is often confronting to friends, her cheerful demeanour always shines through.

Molly

First Chapter: #39
Birthday: May 5
Age: 10
Breed: Abbyssinian

Abbey’s little sister seems to have an endless reserve of childish positivity, showing strong dedication to schoolwork and her local Girl Scout troop. She loves her brother dearly, and shoulders more of their shared burden than he’d like.

Augustus

First Chapter: #31
Birthday: Oct 1
Age: 18

Calm and composed, Augustus is always sure of himself and executes his tasks with quiet efficiency and biting wit. While he keeps his emotions close to his vest, there’s one girl who can unravel everything…

Tess

First Chapter: #19
Birthday: Dec 13
Age: 18
Breed: Ragdoll-Bengal

A rich party girl with a rebellious streak, Tess departed the scorched earth of Junior year to find newer, younger friends. She has since struggled to reconcile her upcoming graduation with the close friendships she quickly forged.

Yashy

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Sep 1

Lucy’s first pet, and the loudest by far. Yashy is something of a prodigy, with a sharp wit that betrays her young age. Bratty, loudmouthed and rude, deep down she wants nothing more for Mom to settle down with her flea.

Blur

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Jul 12

Mike’s pet bird Blur was rescued from a fire as a youngster and has trouble remembering what came before the incident. He counts Yashy as a close friend and can often be seen playing or arguing with her.

Chirpy

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Apr 7

Innocent and naive, Chirpy remains in awe of the world around her. She clings to Yashy and always does her best to follow the examples of grown-ups (while making frequent mistakes in the process.)

Lily

First Chapter: #1
Birthday: Dec 20

Lucy’s most mature pet, Lily is a source of wisdom for much of the cast (and babysitter to others.) Patient and understanding, she is usually able to steer her friends in the right direction.

Katie

First Chapter: #5
Birthday: Feb 1
Age: 15
Breed: Golden Retriever

Precocious Katie spends most of her time worrying about makeup and hair styles and has been duly rewarded by her position as the most popular girl in school. She’s not necessarily mean and cruel… she just doesn’t think too much about others.

Stacy

First Chapter: #6
Birthday: Dec 17
Age: 15

Katie’s best friend. Fluent in the written word, Stacy’s peers haven’t (yet) deterred her from a passion for reportage, creative writing and poetry.

McCain

First Chapter: #32
Age: 16
Breed: West Highland White Terrier

Alec “McCain” McCain remains detached at all times, making blunt pronouncements in situations which do not always welcome them. His tone-deaf flavour of cold rationality doesn’t earn him many favours with most of the cast.

About the Author

Bittersweet Candy Bowl is the result of ink, paper, computers and Veronica Vera. Born in Ecuador, Veronica migrated to the United States and eventually found herself in Sydney, Australia (pictured). Drawing cats since she was seven, Bittersweet Candy Bowl is the final realisation of as story she’s developed with the characters she’s had floating around in her head for many years.

You may have bumped into “Taeshi” on deviantART or around Sonic websites back in the day (and by day we mean last millennium.) Currently 24 years old, she is studying a Bachelor of Fine Arts at COFA after having done half of a Bachelor of Education at UTS and some psychology classes at Rutgers.

She lives with her partner Oliver Bareham (“SuitCase”, “Souppy”) who assists with writing, editing and all the technical and business stuff. Having just graduated from law school, he’s spending 2012 working to help develop Veronica’s projects into a career that can support them both in the years to come.

FAQ

When is the comic updated?: At midnight EST every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning. (Sometimes we’re a few hours late, but we never miss a day!)
What does the name “Bittersweet Candy Bowl” mean?: Taeshi’s friend Lily suggested it. It’s about the intermingling of personalities in the comic! Kind of.
Is this a furry comic?: BCB’s animal characters were influenced by Taeshi reading Garfield and watching cartoons as a kid. As we see it, they have nothing to do with furries, “fursonas” or the world of anthropomorphic fetishism. We hope the comic can be enjoyed by all kinds of people, whether they identify as furry or not.
When did the comic start?: Taeshi began posting the comic on deviantART in 2006, but it didn’t get its own (small) website until 2007. BCB launched properly as a regular webcomic in 2009.
How does Taeshi make the comic?: Taeshi sketches with a mechanical pencil on nice A4 paper, panels with a C-Thru Junior T-square ruler, and inks with a mixture of Sakura Micron and Copic brush pens. She scans the work with an Epson photo scanner, Photoshops out the blue sketchlines, and colours using an Intuos 4 tablet with a 15” MacBook Pro. Each page takes about an hour to sketch, an hour or more to ink, and several hours to colour. It’s a lot of work!
How much of the comic is done in advance?: Taeshi works about five pages in advance. She knows where the story’s going and how it will end.
When will the comic end?: We don’t know for sure, but some time in 2014 is our guess.
Why does the quality of early pages vary so much?: The comic started out as sketches drawn on cheap lined paper made for deviantART friends. As it became more popular, Taeshi spent more time per page and important chapters were redrawn. If you’re unimpressed with the early chapters, don’t worry: it gets better!
Did Taeshi create all the characters?: No. Tess was created by Lily, McCain by Rixx, Carter and Carson by Evan, and Kizuna by Shinoka. Fans have created many more characters themselves, but they stay in the fan realm now.
Will you put my character in the comic?: No. Sorry!
Can you come to a comic convention near me?: We live in Australia, so attending conventions in the USA or elsewhere is difficult. Within Australia we regularly attend Supanova. It’s unlikely we can attend more than one overseas convention a year, but we’ll try!
Who is Souppy and what does he have to do with the comic?: Souppy is Taeshi’s nickname for her partner SuitCase, who runs the website and business ends of BCB. He also edits the comic and assists with story and dialogue.
Which BCB character Twitter accounts are official?: Only Paulo’s (@HotSomali92). Other character accounts are fan-made. (We like @Abbeysinian, @puppylove39 and @BurmeseDirector.) We also run @bcbcomic for news and page updates!
Why do some characters wear clothes and others not?: It’s a comic about cartoon cats.
Who is this black bird from the site’s error pages?: His name is Error. In the early days, when Taeshi made a mistake she’d scribble over it, draw a bird, and leave him in the scene.
Will Mike and Lucy end up together?: No.