PIKACHU IN ASH’S CAP

ARTIST

Aneesh Chandra

SOFTWARE

Zbrush, Substance Painter, Blender, After Effects

Freelance 3D artist Aneesh Chandra chose to forgo using any procedural techniques in the creation of this

Pokémon fan art. He used Zbrush to sculpt and Blender’s Particle System to create the photorealistic fur. “The most enjoyable element for me was simply the chance to recreate the iconic Pikachu from Pokémon in a realistic form,” he explains. “The idea was to have Pikachu wearing his trainer Ash's cap and holding a Poké Ball, as he doesn’t like to stay inside the ball.”

Chandra started by sculpting the basic shape of Pikachu in Zbrush and took time to refine the sculpt. “In this process, I had seen a lot of references of classic Pikachu and from the movie Detective Pikachu,” he adds. After he was satisfied with the sculpt, Chandra imported the model into Blender for retopology and UVS before bringing it into Substance Painter for texturing. “Back in Blender, I created his fur using the Hair Particle System; it was very challenging for me to achieve good-looking fur, but I overcame that by admiring some real-life references like cats and rabbits. After all the adjustments and groomings, I rigged the model, posed him and gave him the cap and a Poké Ball which I modelled separately in Blender.”

Next, he worked on the lighting, materials and rendered the image in Cycles before bringing the image into After Effects for the final colour correction and touch-ups.

“I admire the work of professional artists on various social platforms who are working for big companies across the world,” adds Chandra. “I spend hours reviewing and analysing their work, and try to achieve that perfection in my own artwork.”

IT WAS CHALLENGING TO ACHIEVE GOOD-LOOKING FUR, BUT I OVERCAME THAT BY ADMIRING SOME REAL-LIFE REFERENCES LIKE CATS AND RABBITS