How to catch shiny Smeargle in Pokemon GO

Smeargle has been in Pokemon GO for a while now. With it gaining a shiny variation in a couple of weeks, now is the perfect time to learn how to hunt for the painter Pokemon.

How to catch shiny Smeargle in Pokemon GO - April 2021

Shiny Smeargle will be catchable during a short celebration for New Pokemon Snap. This celebration will take place from 29 April to 2 May. Various other Pokemon featured in New Pokemon Snaps' Lental region will be popping up as well, but the cream of the crop will be shiny Smeargle.

Smeargle is an unusual Pokemon to find in Pokemon GO. The artistic pup Pokemon cannot be found through ordinary means. Running around looking for it in the wild or in raids will prove fruitless. The only way to find a Smeargle is to embrace Pokemon Snap's gameplay and take pictures within Pokemon GO.

By delving into the items pouch and choosing the camera, players can take snapshots of their precious Pokemon. But some of these priceless memories have been messed with. Occasionally, while looking at the pictures the player has taken, players may notice that there's an extra Pokemon that hopped in to ruin an otherwise lovely photo.

Without all of the fancy wordplay, take a picture of a Pokemon and take a look at the photo. There's a small chance that a Smeargle may have photobombed the picture.

After looking at a Smeargle-inclusive picture, just go back to the map and a paintbrush dog will be chilling out nearby, just waiting to be caught. After that, catching it works just as usual. Throw a Razz Berry, use an ultra ball, throw the perfect curveball, and bam! Smeargle caught.

But here's the problem. Shiny Smeargle isn't just a new variant being added - it's an event-limited shiny being added. This means that, after 8:00 PM local time on May 2nd, the shiny Smeargle will be locked away in the Niantic vaults for a good, long while.

In addition, while Smeargle will be appearing more often during the event, it will supposedly be appearing only “a limited number of times”. How many times remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: a player who manages to snag one of these glorious artists will have a very unique Pokemon to take pictures of.