@MorganCline on Twitter, Birthdays, and Sharing Her Artwork Online

Morgan Cline spends her days working in the trenches of Hollywood and her nights dreaming of Zayn. She makes marker art and sculptures, which you can find on her Tumblr. This week I spoke with Cline about three of her favorite tweets, and she shared her thoughts on Raven Symone, sharing art online, and getting into legal trouble with Kenny Chesney’s people.

Cline: For whatever reason, this tweet got the attention of some comedy folks and really took off. Out of nowhere my stuff started ending up on blogs, which was great. However it also ended up attracting the attention of Kenny Chesney’s lawyers. They didn’t like that my blog and Etsy store were called “Kenny Chesney Serious”…so I ended up having to change the name to Markerpiece Theater. Getting contacted by Chesney’s reps was one of the highlights of my life.

Do Twitter reactions (or other online feedback) influence what types of things you draw?

I haven’t really censored myself due to any feedback. For the most part I’ve had a really positive online experience—which I realize is very lucky. I think if anything, I realized that sometimes the more obscure drawings tend to resonate more. I drew a Louis CK One pic that was Louis CK doing the Kate Moss topless pose from the CK One ad—so its him with bare breasts. It’s really weird and I thought people would hate it and it got a lot more traction than I assumed. I also did a Biz Markie Post that people dug and I thought no one would get. I guess there are a lot of like-minded weirdos out there—which is a comforting thought.

What are your favorite and least favorite things about Twitter?

My favorite things are the awesome people I’ve been able to meet through Twitter. I’ve found real life, wonderful connections through the site. I think that people’s essence can really come across through their humor and random pictures they post. I recently relocated to a new city and have been able to connect with lovely folks I’ve met on Twitter. I think my least favorite thing is just how seriously people take it—at the end of the day it’s 140 characters of bullshit. Fun, silly, lovely bullshit that occasionally has the power to get attention and cause change but for the most part we’re posting #TrueDetectiveSeason3 pics. Perspective and all.

I have an irrational hatred of Raven Symone - I realize she’s probably a lovely person in real life, but I truly, truly despise her. She’s fueled by sass and I hate her with the passion of a thousand suns. Anyways, I started doing art work where Raven Symone was the cause for horrible disasters—this one is the BP Oil Spill, I have one with her and the Challenger, 9/11 and one with her executing Nguyễn Văn Lém. I have them framed in my apartment and it makes me look like a total psychopath.

When you tweet your art do you prefer sharing works in progress or more polished/finished pieces?

I tend to prefer finished pieces when it comes to marker art—as for my sculptures, those I love to post while they are in progress. The finished sculptures are really unnerving to begin with, but the works in progress, lumpy clay faces that look like characters in TROLL, are pure nightmare fuel. My work in progress Rocky Dennis lost me a ton of followers. It was awful.

One of my favorite parts of your Twitter is all your birthday wishes to celebs. When did you start doing those and what (if anything in particular) made you decide to keep up with them?

I started a few years back—I’m pretty obsessed with with Kenny Chesney, Kenny Loggins, and Jonathan Lipnicki—so in the beginning it was wishing happy birthdays to them. Then I branched out to wishing a very UNhappy birthday to my least favorite human, Raven Symone, And after that I started wishing birthdays to random celebrities that really tickle my fancy. I have some favorites—Greg Evigan, Tina Yothers, Yanni, Markie Post and anyone from the band O TOWN.

This image just makes me laugh like a crazy person. I love Romancing The Stone, but that scene, where they slide down a muddy embankment and Michael lands between Kathleen Turner’s legs. Its insane and disgusting and I love it so much. He looks legit like a goblin.

Are there topics that you always enjoy tweeting about? How about ones that you always enjoy seeing other people tweet about?

Personally, I really dig tweeting anything about mini-pigs, Silk Stalkings and Center Stage. I mean, you can’t go wrong with any of those topics in my opinion. I tend to enjoy pop culture and really kooky posts. I remember when @NotTildaSwinton came out and I almost had an asthma attack laughing. Anything really surreal and quick witted tends to catch my eye. With that said, I’m a sucker for @ZooBorns—have you ever seen a baby fennec fox? It’ll change your damn life.

Jenny Nelson lives and writes in Brooklyn and works at Funny Or Die.

@MorganCline on Twitter, Birthdays, and Sharing Her […]