A Diplomatic Treaty for a Cartoon Character

Bella the Sunshine Girl has been finished for some time now—December 2025, to be exact.

It was the same month When Felix Looked My Way was released. A month of long weeks spent working quietly, choosing to stay in and build while everything else carried on outside.

The illustrations took longer than expected. My team and I had to focus on a few IPs scheduled for March into early Q2. Bella waited. Some stories seem to understand timing better than we do.

This entry is really just to remember something my sister said.

She called earlier today—perhaps bored in Madrid, or perhaps she simply missed me. We’ve always been like that. Close enough to understand each other without needing much explanation, and amused enough to find something to laugh about anyway.

She asked what I was doing. I told her I was sketching Bella on Clip Studio.

Then she said it, as if it were the most natural thing in the world—

“Well, at least you’re done with the diplomatic treaty for the cartoon character.”

I didn’t expect to laugh.

A diplomatic treaty. For a cartoon character.

Only she would see it that way and say it so cleanly. She has always had a way of naming things, and somehow making them lighter.

I stayed there for a moment, still smiling.

There is a kind of wealth that has nothing to do with numbers.

I’d like to have more moments like this with her.

As for Bella, I hope she finds her way into the hands of children someday. Not as something grand, but as something gentle. If she cannot be their sister, then perhaps she can be their friend.

Some stories are written to be read. Some are built to travel.