Vodka Yonic features a rotating cast of women and nonbinary writers from around the world sharing stories that are alternately humorous, sobering, intellectual, erotic, religious or painfully personal. You never know what you’ll find in this column, but we hope this potent mix of stories encourages conversation.
“I try to do simple, one-panel comics that are easy to execute rather than more laborious projects like multi-panel comics and zines”
Before I became a mom, I produced so much art. I made daily doodles and zines that I posted to Instagram. I drew comics and paper dolls and fantastical storybook scenes using oil pastels. I even fashioned a tiny restaurant out of a takeout menu and a plastic box of greeting cards. Doing these things brought me so much joy.
But when I gave birth to my son earlier this year, that creativity ceased. I was too sleep-deprived to dream up any good ideas, and if I did, I felt guilty that I had used that brain space on something other than my baby.
As I slowly got into the groove of being a mom, that old hankering to make art started tugging at me again. To answer that call, I realized I’d need to make a few adjustments to my artistic process. I now had less free time and less energy. And although studies have shown that motherhood can be a boon to imaginative thinking — women, for example, get a surge of oxytocin, a hormone that is linked to creativity, during labor and while they breastfeed — it felt like my brain had turned to mush.
Determined not to let my maternity leave end without making a few drawings and crafts, I decided to think of these constraints as a kind of creative brief. What could I do within these parameters? Here’s what I learned.
Lower Your Standards — You Have an Infant!
Those early days of motherhood were rough. I felt like a zombie during the day because I was waking up every couple of hours throughout the night to feed the baby. So if I had an opportunity to do something creative, I wasn’t giving it 100 percent. I was giving it maybe 10 percent. I’d make drawings of figures that didn’t have completed hands or proportional bodies. I neglected to color my illustrations. If I made a mistake, I didn’t bother to correct it. And I was OK with that. Sometimes it just feels nice to get an idea down on paper — so don’t be afraid to do a subpar job. It’s the kindest thing you can do for yourself given your situation, and who knows? It might turn out great. But you won’t know if you don’t try.
Refine a Creative Idea While Feeding the Baby
So much of early motherhood consists of doing things that don’t allow you to multitask. Walking outside with your baby in a stroller, for example, requires both hands on the handlebar and your eyes on the road. You also need both hands to hold your baby while rocking them to sleep (unless you’ve got amazing upper body strength, which I don’t!).
These are perfect moments to work through an art concept or revise an existing one in your head. While feeding your baby, for example, use that time to plan out your next creative project. Say you want to make a comic: Think about what you want the illustration to be, the text, the colors, and refine those ideas until you can see the final draft in your mind. Now all you need is the time to draw it.
Put Art Supplies at Your Pumping Station
Leave art supplies in a place where you normally spend time — maybe it’s by the coffee maker or the kitchen island where you sort your mail. For me, it’s at the dining room table where I pump breast milk. I have several types of good drawing pens, a stack of plain white paper and my best fine-tipped markers. I’ve been surprised by how much I’ve been able to create while sitting there: a tiny zine about a vacation in Paris, some diary comics and lots of little doodles of my baby.
Give Up Some of Your Instagram Time For Art
After I had a baby, I was shocked to discover that I was spending almost two hours a day on Instagram, sometimes more. I had no idea where I had the time to spare, but I guess I was looking at the app while the baby was sleeping — or worse, while I was supposed to be sleeping.
If you have time to scroll through Instagram, then you have time to make art. Set aside five or 10 minutes of your phone time. Work on a piece that is manageable enough to complete within that time constraint, like a haiku, a short poem, a tiny zine or a simple illustration. The point is to get into the habit of being creative again and lose yourself in the act of making.
