Ya Ha Ha! 🌱

Hi, I’m Sasha! I like to create art that can make others happy ✨ Thanks for stopping by~ Please do not repost/sell my art. https://samairu.carrd.co

[samairuart]

As usual, sharing the redraw 💪🏽 I like taking old art I’ve drawn and trying again. It’s really fun to see what skills I’ve learned and what has generally stayed the same.

I do wish I went with a more pinkier tone in the 2026 version like how I did back in 2022, but the gold seems to work fine enough 🙂

[samairuart]

Hualian golden hours

[samairuart]

I do not follow or play lds but im nosey can you explain the valko situation cause I’ve been seeing it around lol

Haha omg of course I’ll try my best because it’s such a mess! I don’t want to give attention to rumors, so I’ll share what factual info I know. Valko’s videos have been deleted or archived by infold so I’m trying to run off my memory here on dates but 🙏🏽 here’s my best take:

To preface, I’ve been playing lads for 2 years now. While I do play a lot, I do not participate much in fandom.

Since the game’s beginning, 6 love interests were always expected. The game started out with Xavier, Zayne, and Rafayel. Sylus was introduced in mid 2024, Caleb in 2025, and a 6th was expected this year (Valko). It was no surprise that the 6th love interest was coming, since the game always teased “coming soon” characters and lore drops within the main story that to me, feels like would all connect later down the road.

When Valko’s teaser came out on June 22, he became very meme worthy amongst global players (y’know, wolf theme and all). The general vibe I got was that fans seemed unsure about him, but quickly warmed up to Valko after his main trailers dropped on June 28 in preparation of his debut in the game for the July 9 update. That being said, there seems to have been critical backlash within the CN server, related to various reasons that I just do not have the proper information to explain.

A lot of players had 1 star review bombed lads, citing abuse to women, referencing the number 731 (tied to a gruesome and painful history in China), commenting negatively on his looks and size, and other other political controversies. There were people sending funeral flowers and cow dung to Infold’s building. Now to briefly mention rumors for the sake of sharing what fuel was added to this fire, it was speculated that the government had to become involved and that some CN players were gathering up a lawsuit.

I think the core reason for the Valko hate was that the game has had many issues since day one that just have not been addressed or fixed. To name a few, there are lighting issues on MCs that have black or brown skin tones, there is a lack of communication and transparency from infold itself, there is a lack of main story updates and character story updates. We wait months if not a whole year for the story to update. Releasing Valko seems to have been the breaking point in CN servers, and unfortunately he became a scapegoat in my opinion.

On June 30, after his full trailers dropped, a notice was posted on Love and Deepspace’s instagram that Valko’s debut in the game would be cancelled and no further love interests would be added to the game.

This sparked shock and outrage throughout the fandom, especially amongst global server players. When lads instagram earlier this year celebrated having 1 million followers, since the notice was posted they have lost over 70k followers. The news also started a fight between CN and Global server players, which led to bigoted and racist attitudes being shared and expressed by both groups. This is not ok on either side, we need to remember that the real problem was Infold and how they handled this whole mess.

Removing Valko prematurely before his debut was a huge mistake. It was a rushed decision that blindsided everyone, and we still have not received news or updates regarding the situation since. Fans around the world have been expressing their disappointment and also finding community in sharing their grief for a character they were eager to meet but now will not get the chance to.

This removal also brings about potential other sticky lawsuifs in false advertising or damages because many players had set aside money or bought in game materials to prepare for his debut.

I truly am not good at sharing the full weight of this debacle, I wish I was better at properly sharing all of the pieces that made this mess. But it really is a mess and I feel so bad for the entire creative team behind Valko.

I was eager to meet him and to learn his story, and how he connects with the rest of the plot. My interpretation of the timeline of the story would be that we would have gotten main story updates after all the love interests were introduced, because to me it still felt like there was set up that was necessary (which would have come along with Valko’s intro to the game). Idk 🤷🏾‍♀️ I hope they do bring him back because the amount of work and love his creative team put into him deserves it.

[samairuart]

Attempt no. 2 after studying his face a bit more. Main reason why I don’t make lads art that much is because the characters are so pretty, I have a hard time getting it right 😔🙏🏽

[samairuart]

My brief offer to get him resurrected from the grave

[samairuart]

hi hello! i just came across your blog and um?????? hello?????? a fellow desi fandom enjoyer and artist?????? i thought i was a rarity. an endangered species if you will. thanks for the reminder that we are literally everywhere!! and also your art? incredible. edible. delicious. i ate your entire blog oopsie daisy :D anyways uhhhh take care of yourself and drink water!

Hehe hello!!! 👋🏽 aw you’re very kind thank you! omg you must come over to ig, there are way more of us~ but I totally understand you, desi community in the illustrative arts is small 🫡 but we are here!!

I feel very proud whenever I come across more desi artists, and begin collecting them like infinity stones in the super South Asian gauntlet ✊🏽

[samairuart]

Guilty pleasure fanart as a mental break from work. Pera Palace season 3 when 😭🫡

[samairuart]

Dance

[samairuart]

Agar tum kahoooo~

[samairuart]

2021 -> 2026 another redraw I’ll likely never finish 🫪

[samairuart]

Some merm wips

[samairuart]

2019 -> 2026

[samairuart]

Going down memory lane with my og ocs Luce and Emma 🫡 they were my very first ocs from when I was in high school many many years ago 🥹 saw some old art of them and had to redraw as a cooldown

[samairuart]

Do you sell prints? Is are there prints of that beautiful Alysa Liu illustration? I would love to support you <3

Thank you for asking! I currently have an INPRNT shop, however it has not been updated for a hot minute! Regretfully I do not have that one up yet 😔 hopefully when I catch a break between jobs!!

Someday I’d like to get to a point to sell prints from my own home, but I still think I need to build up more artwork to do that (and teach myself how to navigate shipping 💦

But thank you 🙏🏽 even just the thought is really really kind of you to share.

[samairuart]

Sneak peeking - relieving some pent up stress and relearning how to colour 😔

[samairuart]

Oof will need to redraw them but trying to ease back into drawing for myself since I’ve been extremely busy under contract work along with my day job.

My hand keeps seizing up and losing grip strength 😭

[samairuart]

oh my i adore your art! came for your lovely hualian and desi art (i too am gujarati aha) but wow!! your ocs especially look so interesting, do you have anything you'd like to share about them? fun facts, unmentioned lore, anything really. i'd love to hear. hope you have a wonderful day ♡

Aw thank you so much!! I really appreciate the interest in my OCs 🥹 I aspire so much to bring their stories to life someday, so many of them are rolling around in my brain 🧠 they need to be set free haha.

Truth be told I have a few projects I’d like to get out there. One that I’m super eager to work on is an interconnected universe based on the Nakshatra. Not specifically the ones part of the Lunar Mansion, but I’ve been playing around with the idea of stars and their presence in a vast universe. I’ve always adored celestial mythos, and have created a few of my own that I’m excited to share. Hopefully I’ll have something by the end of the year to pump out 🫡

The second is one I’ve been making a few character art for which is the Lotus Kingdom, a silly little mermaid story which originally started out as a dating sim idea but haha the characters quickly told me that romance wouldn’t be in their cards. The characters in the Lotus Kingdom feel more like a family to me, rather than individual potential romances. Tho, while I say that, there is likely one in that group which could develop into a romance. We shall see 🕺🏾