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Cody the Unicorn and his sidekick Bug are PVS-Studio's unmistakable mascots. You've spotted these two in all sorts of scenarios: at archaeological digs, in outer space, in a bank mid-heist, in a garden, and even in sewers. But how did this unicorn come to be, and what did it look like in the dawn of time? Let's follow Cody's evolution from the ground up and check out the most amusing illustrations he's starred in.
Our company have picture galleries spanning different chapters of the company's history. Originally, I planned to pick the coolest samples and explain what each was for, but the shift in art styles was so striking that I couldn't help turning this into a full-blown historical overview. So even though there's already been an article about Cody, I'm going to take another good look at our lovely unicorn!
2011–2013 AD
To cover this era and get inside scoop, I sat down for a short interview with Andrey Karpov, co-founder of PVS-Studio. The unicorn concept was wildly popular back then, and when Andrey first tossed a unicorn illustration into an article, he got a lively reaction. And founders decided to reuse the image, having no clue how many years it would actually stick around.
Here's one of the proto-unicorns: on all fours and, for some reason, draped in a horse blanket sporting the company logo of that day:
Back then he was vomiting rainbows—a nod to the trends of the day—and according to Andrey, the cause was bad code.
Lounging next to it was this adorable chubby fellow—turns out Andrey's wife drew it, and I think this cutie deserves some love!
Back then, our company mostly relied on freelancers for illustrations because there was no clear vision of the future mascot's visual identity yet. So, the results were pretty hilarious:
We also experimented with some images that had no clear purpose. Take a look at this one:
This illustration went absolutely nowhere and spent over a decade buried in the archive, only to finally surface in this article.
And in this mysterious little scene, Cody is hatching a penguin egg, which is a nod to the arrival of PVS-Studio on Linux—now that's a miracle of birth worth beholding!
Armed with a few ready-made pictures, article authors would cobble together collages for their stories. Today, these are dripping with nostalgia:
Although the Bug became a regular character only recently, its distant ancestors were born right alongside a protagonist. After all, what's a protagonist without an antagonist? But those predecessors looked completely different:
Ever wondered why its T-shirt is that particular shade of blue? This color later became our corporate blue. The answer is simple: the analyzer's first versions targeted C and C++ and the blue color tipped its hat to the official language logo. The picture below shows how we envisioned the tight friendship between C++, C#, and Java back in the day:
~2018–2022
Around 2018, we had a lightbulb moment: we thought that an in-house designer would be an absolute must-have. Working with freelancers had just become too clunky. Finally, we came to more recognizable mascot's design, so we craved more variety in poses and visual consistency. On top of that, requests for printed goodies started rolling in—and that sealed the deal.
Here we see the upright Cody gaining its now-familiar expressive muzzle, landing in fun situations, and rocking that blue T-shirt:
You can spot meme culture written all over these—no surprise, since the unicorn itself was born from the internet. Office rumors told that Cody was supposed to look like Andrey, but Andrey says that was never the plan. He said that the mascot reminds him of Moomintroll. I'm with him—I totally see it!
2022–2026 year
These are the years of our current designer. With a new artist at the wheel came a fresh style, new inspiration, and a different approach—so Cody was in for another glow-up. Early drafts still had the old Cody vibe, but you could already tell a new hand was in the mix:
By late 2025, Cody got the fresh look you see in today's article illustrations:
But enough from me—why not hear from Yaroslav, our designer?
Give us the short version of how you first met the mascot and how you've been shaping it. What have you improved in the artwork?
"I ran into it on a test assignment after my interview in '22. Once I was hired, my mentor (Galya, hi!) walked me through the unicorn backstory—the asset libraries, its anatomy—so I wasn't starting from scratch. As for the Bug, on the other hand, I pretty much built it from the ground up :)
For the first year and a half, my unicorns were kinda meh (I didn't really like them), but then I started to grasp how to use his proportions and shapes in all kinds of comical situations and angles. Over time I'd tweak the style here and there, adding a little and taking a little away.
Lately I've been adding full backgrounds and playing with tougher angles, so the scenes can tell a richer story."
Where do you get your inspiration for the really cool pictures?
"I pull inspiration from anything with grotesque animation or just plain funny stuff. For example, a year and a half ago, I was obsessed with the game Pizza Tower. I "borrowed" a bunch of angles and goofy expressions from its hero (in a designer-oriented way). The rest is pretty standard: memes, games, and cartoons.
I also love slipping in nods to classical visual art and cinema."
What do you enjoy working on the most? What do you like to draw?
"I love breaking out of our corporate style, cooking up something new (peep the pics from our latest quiz) and drawing goofy faces :)"
And here are the memes. We sprinkle them everywhere: article illustrations, printed handouts, quizzes, and in many other contexts:
We've even thrown 3D modeling into the mix on occasion:
Like I said, we love referencing familiar faces:
Way back in 2011, we started dressing articles with on-theme images. Take Andrey Karpov's review of DOOM 3, he cooked up this illustration himself, using the very first Cody prototype:
Later, another colleague picked up the Doom-checking torch and made a collage, this time with a fresher unicorn:
Then, to mark the game's 30th anniversary in late 2023, yet another article came out. This time, the illustration was fully drawn from scratch—the background and all, with every character stylized. Today, thanks to Yaroslav, that has become the standard:
Cody has been with the company for almost the whole ride—pretty much from day one. Its goofy face is out there every day, building brand love. I hope you had fun tracing its footsteps with me.
For dessert, here's a little something from the designer. But first, I have to spill his secret: he loves sneaking amonguses—those Among Us crewmates that are basically a meme on legs—into his drawings. Here's an example from the image above:
Yeah, it's not super obvious—but hey, nothing's easy these days, right? Here's a little game: spot an amongus hint in any picture on our blog, send a screenshot and a link to the article to events@viva64.com, and we'll hook you up with a 30-day trial license. Want more Cody in your life? Follow us on X, Facebook, Bluesky, or LinkedIn. We'll be waiting for you!
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