Art as medicine, right when you need it
+ getting in touch with your greater creative motivation
Hi, friends—
Today, I’m excited to share a written interview with Carolyn Yoo, an illustrator, writer, and zine-maker. Carolyn writes about art as a form of personal medicine, keeping creative habits small, and the surprising ways work you make today can meet you again later… exactly when you need it.
If you’re feeling a little tender or overstimulated, or unsure how creativity fits into your life right now, I think you’ll find this grounding.
1. You had this moment where you finally sat down to read your own zine and your words hit totally differently than when you wrote them. What was that like?
Making my seasonal companion zines has been a challenge in that I have to work a season ahead, so I’m not always sure I’m succeeding at embodying the next season when my natural surroundings don’t match it. But while reading Winter Practice during the height of the holidays, I was relieved to see my current mental weather reflected in my words on the winter season. It felt like my version of planting seeds for the season ahead, not knowing how they will germinate but trusting that they will.
2. Tell us about this idea of “art as your own medicine.” When did you start thinking about creativity this way?
I have been journaling my entire life, so I think I’ve always approached creativity as a way to process and heal even when I wasn’t entirely conscious of it. When I started practicing illustration, I noticed that when I felt mentally frustrated or unmotivated, capturing that very feeling was the way back into my art. While my younger years were filled with sad poetry or angry journal entries, I now find pleasure in closing the circle of heavy emotion with some insight or action that leaves me (and the reader) with hope.
3. You recently wrote about “feeling everything in ALL CAPS” in the chaos of the holiday season. I can relate, as I’m sure many readers will too. How do you actually make time for creative work when you’re overwhelmed?
I keep the creative habit really small, and I’m not afraid to change up what the habit is depending on what I most feel energized toward. I’ve determined I have a minimum creative time of ten minutes per day, which is enough time to write a journal entry and make a small, contained drawing.
I also think it helps if there’s a greater motivation than needing to “stay creative” just for the sake of it. I want to document and remember my days, so journaling is the creative habit that sticks. In other seasons of my life, I’ve wanted to improve at drawing, so I would make it a weekly routine to go outside and draw at a cafe.
4. Can I quote you again? :) “Everything you create is already waiting for the moment you’ll need it the most.” Have you had other times where something you made ended up being exactly what you needed later?
I have this feeling quite often, especially with my writing! I think of the last chapter of The Artist’s Way where Julia Cameron says “the artist’s way is a spiral path.” Many of the exercises I come up with for my January daily prompt series 31 Days of Creative Resilience are ones I repeat when I’m blocked. I also think about the flowchart in my zine How to Keep Your Hobby from Becoming a Job and using it when I wasn’t sure whether to create an online shop for my fiber art pieces.
5. Tell us a little about making zines/your latest zine, Winter Practice. I think a lot of people have a desire to do something like this with their work but either don’t know where to start or what the vision is or if anyone will get it. What do you wish you knew about making zines when you were getting started (or picking it back up)? What do you find special about zines? Any words of wisdom or encouragement?
I wish I knew earlier that zines did not require fancy software to create! I associated all publishing endeavors with using Adobe inDesign after years of working with it during my high school newspaper and college fashion magazine days. But you can create zines with free software, from Canva to Google Docs or Google Slides. I teach students of all ages to use various technologies to assemble their zines in Zine Lab, and it’s so fulfilling to see what unlocks for people when they discover they can use tools they’re comfortable with to create and print their zines.
6. Anything else you’d like to share with us?
Good luck to all those embarking on The 100 Day Project! Resistance is such a normal part of a long commitment like this, and I’ve floundered on many 100-day project attempts because of it. I encourage you to listen to what the resistance has to tell you rather than trying to blindly push through it! And might I suggest once you’re done that you make a zine about your project? :)
I concur! Thanks so much for sharing, Carolyn! Readers, here’s where you can find Carolyn and explore her work (and perhaps make your own zines??).
Newsletter:
Also:
On Instagram @carolynyoo
Pre-order Spring Practice
Find out more and sign up for Zine Lab
A few prompts for you…
I love the idea of “minimum creative time” (I also aim for at least 10 minutes a day!). What’s your MCT?
What’s your greater motivation than needing to “stay creative” just for the sake of it?
Do you have any stories about fancy materials or supplies? How can you work with what you already have or keep it simple?
Are you feeling any resistance? What’s the resistance telling you?
ICYMI
You can always find our most recent posts here at the100dayproject.org
What to do for your project
Substack Live interviews with Emily McDowell and Melissa Lakey
What creative season are you in?
What is The 100 Day Project + other frequently asked questions
UP NEXT
We’re also answering questions + sharing art over on Instagram
XO,
Lindsay
Thank you for the lovely chat Lindsay!!
Such a lovely interview. I love the idea of MCT. As a mom with a 9–5, claiming creative space can feel almost rebellious. The 10 minutes a day resonates with me. But I’ve found the real resistance isn’t just about time, it’s about shifting from tending to everyone else into tending to the page.