Swish and Spit

Swish and Spit

Arkray USA is a company using technology to make advancements in healthcare. They have a device for dentists that can analyze a patient’s saliva and look for problems. The wanted a fun mascot character that would help them to sell the device to dentists, and hired me to help them out.

We talked about various ideas including a detective, a superhero, or a cartoon character made out of saliva. Eventually we settled on a detective. I tried a few options based on detective tropes ranging from Sam Spade to 1970’s cop movies to Magnum P.I. to Brooklyn Nine-Nine. I also thought it might be fun to do a “buddy cop” thing pairing the tough detective with a cute saliva sidekick. I named them “Buckett and Spit”.

The client liked that idea. They asked me to turn the little saliva guy into a superhero and refine the design for both. Also, they changed the names to Swish and Spit:

The final request from the client was that both characters always be smiling, to show their teeth. Here’s the final art. The project is on hold for now but the client has given me permission to share the work I did. Once it launches I will try to add a link to the final campaign.