Watch Squirtle Going Full-on Tony Hawk in This Smooth 3D Animation

Chester Sampson, a Senior Character Animator who previously worked on Despicable Me 4 and No Rest for the Wicked, has recently delighted hundreds of Pokémon fans by presenting a fluid 3D animation that depicted Squirtle going full-on Tony Hawk and performing stylish skateboarding tricks, leveraging the Water Gun ability to assist in some of the jumps.

According to the creator, the sequence and the dynamic camera were created as a personal project and took several full days to set up using Autodesk Maya. "I started with some basic primitives to plan it all out and then changed a bunch of stuff as I was going," the artist noted. "Lots of space switching/switching of pivots/controls on this one to avoid gimble issues."

As for the rigs, Chester utilized the Skateboard Maya Rig by Dmitrii Kildiushov and the Squirtle Rig by Andrea Flores and Jesús Coscolla.

Besides showcasing awesome 3D animations every once in a while, Chester also regularly shares insightful tutorials covering a variety of topics related to animation in Maya in Blender. If you're interested in leveling up your skills as an Animator, we highly recommend visiting the creator's YouTube channel to pick up a thing or two: