Culture

'Drunk Tweets': Tipsy Twitter bird as art (pictures)

Twitter's avian mascot, plus a few buzzards, ducks, and vultures, get drunk in artist Josh Ellingson's amusing series of paintings.

Bonnie Burton

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Bonnie Burton

Dec. 7, 2013 5:59 a.m. PT

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Would-be teeth tweet

What if Twitter's famous blue bird mascot and his buddies had a cocktail party? That's what San Francisco graphic artist Josh Ellingson pondered when he started his whimsical "Drunk Tweets" series of paintings.

"The whole thing happened because I wanted to post a tweet that said, 'Teeth are really just bones...that you can lick,'" Ellingson told Crave. "It was one of those weird thoughts that came to me after a night out, drinking. I wrote it down, thinking it would be a good thing to tweet later, but then I decided it would be funnier as a sketch. So I made a quick doodle of a drunk Twitter bird saying that. I liked drawing [it] so much that I just kept going."

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Self-portrait?

"In a way, I think a lot of them are self-portraits," Ellingson said of his "Drunk Tweets" acrylic and pencil paintings. "There are lots of different variations of drunk and I think I've been them all. There's Angry Drunk, Ham-It-Up Drunk, Sad Drunk, etc. If I had to pick one that resembles me most, it might be this one."

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Drinking and drawing

This is the desk where San Francisco artist Josh Ellingson paints his "Drunk Tweets" art while watching "Cheers."

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Not the wisest owl

This obliterated owl is more likely wasted than wise. "Everybody wants the owl's advice because he's supposedly so wise. So owls get a lot of free drinks and they just end up hammered," Ellingson said.

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Classy avian

Classy birds enjoy their drinks shaken not stirred. Artist Josh Ellingson sells some of "Drunk Tweets" paintings Etsy, generally for between $20 and $25.

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Book of birds

Artist Josh Ellingson also makes mini books of his "Drunk Tweets" drawings.

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Looking for trouble?

This "Drunk Tweets" bird might be buzzed or ready for a barroom brawl. Artist Josh Ellingson regularly posts his boozy acrylic paint and pencil portraits on Instagram as he finishes them, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

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Birds of a feather

While Twitter's iconic blue bird is the main character in Josh Ellingson's "Drunk Tweets" series of paintings, other birds, including buzzards, ducks, vultures, and owls, get in on the act too.

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Blitzed bird

This blitzed bird is clearly all about the beer. "I've drawn characters drinking before, but I wanted to make the birds full-on inebriated," artist Josh Ellingson told Crave.

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Drunken-bird antics

"Nothing gets things going like putting a beer box on your head and doing the robot," Josh Ellingson told Crave of this "Drunk Tweets" drawing. "This bird is the life of the party and knows it!"