[Theory] How do you think Smeargle's Sketch works in-universe?

Sketch, one of the weirdest Pokémon moves if you think about it in a real-world context.

:t235:

Smeargle, a biped normal-type canine Pokémon, uses this move, and copies down the last Pokémon attack it saw. One can presume they use a combination of artistry and mimicry to do this, but how does that allow them to perform fantastic moves beyond their reasonable limits?

For example, one would think that a Smeargle wouldn't be able to shoot out a fire or ice, or use psionics, or fly in the air without wings. A lot of these moves they're Sketching go beyond their elemental or bodily limitations but they can do it anyway.


Art: ra-ooo

How do you guys think Sketch works, both the copying down and then the performance of weird copied moves? Feel free to bring your own thoughts to the table, or theories you've seen elsewhere (source them please).

I ask because I'm going to be roleplaying a Smeargle in combat and I want to portray this in a way that isn't just hand-waving or lampshading. Community theorizing/brainstorming sounds like a good solution to me.

kidding.

Paints the move on a surface with its tail and the move appears. It uses fly by painting wings or uses transform by painting the Pokemon in front of it.

Its basically anime logic and nothing else. Smeargle might have hidden abilities, some of them hidden from their physicality. The painting thing is one which is surfaced, so I wouldn't be surprised if it has psionic or other abilities. Cheers!

Final Fantasy Ⅵ's Relm and her ability to Sketch monsters comes to mind when I think of this - where she imitates one of the enemy monsters' moves by painting them (the monsters) out in thin air.

Even with a deep view of the type chart, moves and lore, there are Pokémon whose abilities are considered magical or supernatural when taken from a Watsonian perspective, in the sense that they are not explained in terms of other available mechanics and thus to us appear "opaque". Kinda like Ditto's Transform ability being able to copy stats, or how Mold Breaker works, for example. Going by that, taking from the tried and true trope that art imitates life, Smeargle's paint might have a supernatural or magical component to it that allows the Pokémon to infer knowledge or experience about a move and feel it as if it was "first hand". Taking from a Teen Titans special, I'd go with something like an "ink as blood" or "ink as Lifestream" approach where the ink is living and has an imitative capacity not unlike that of a chameleon's cells, of course amped up in Pokémon style. Smeargle's high proprioception would allow it to acquire information from the paint even after it is interacting with things outside its body (not unlike attacks like Future Sight can interact with users or targets long after cast).

From where, all it remains is for Smeargle to actually be able to use the move once learned, and for that it's as simple as using the same mechanism, hand-waved or not, that allows Pokémon to use any of their moves they can learn but physiologically speaking they should not be able to. I'm looking at Iron Tail being used by mons without tails, for example.

...And of course, if all else fails, another option is to simply take in such anime asspulls as "Rock Throw works by opening PORTALS IN THE SKY and raining rocks from there"...