The Second Brain Method for Artists

Written by Kiara Maharaj, 10 June 2024.

I have had a sketchbook for as long as I can remember.

I took my sketchbook with me wherever I went. Throughout primary school I'd share my drawings with classmates and try to convince them to read my stories. In high school I'd sketch faeries and goblins during Afrikaans class. University was no different - I remember telling my physics partner about the difference between a troll and an ogre, after he mistook my troll drawing for an ogre.

Some sketchbooks were filled to the last page. Some were abandoned and I started afresh on a new one. I was also writing a bunch of fantasy books, and so ended up illustrating my own characters and environments from my stories, in between life studies and color practices. I never had any formal art education so I skipped the fundamentals.

A few times my dad tried to convince me to study drawing fundamentals through an online course - and I did try but I found it much less exciting than just drawing what I liked in my sketchbook. So I stuck to drawing what I liked: trees, moss, foliage, leaves, creatures.

There's some things I never realized or wondered until I started posting on social media in 2018 and people were asking me:

1. Where do my ideas come from?
2. How do I finish sketchbooks?
3. Do I ever experience burnout?
4. What advice can I share about drawing fantasy creatures?

After graduating I had more free time to be with my sketchbook to really absorb the moments where a new idea arrived fresh in my mind. I was reading the book Mastery by Robert Greene, and that led me to discover a book called Building your Second Brain, by Tiago Forte.

In his book, Forte describes The Second Brain method as a tool to organize digital files and tons of information, so you can retrieve and process it more efficiently. Your figurative "second brain" is used to store masses of information, so your "first" brain can be best optimized to think of ideas and execute them.

This idea put a lot of things into perspective regarding my sketchbook practice, and the practice of so many other great artists I admired.

In March this year, I wrote a mini E-book (about 30 pages) about The Second Brain Method, specifically about how artists can use this method for finishing sketchbooks, improving our skills, and creating meaningful artworks. In this blog post I wanted to outline some concepts I wrote in my book since I have been receiving a lot of questions about it and there aren't enough sources on the internet that talks about combining the second brain method and art.

I want to also clarify that there are of course many ways to improve your skills, this method is just one of the ways I found has worked with me. I did not make it up to sell a book, I genuinely use this method and it has helped me fill sketchbooks, be more free when experimenting with supplies, and come up with new ideas for stories and artworks.

In my book I explain that the key ingredient for an artist's second brain is our fascination - that anything we look at for a little longer than usual is our unique inner voice.

Maybe you like collecting seashells, you are fascinated by them, and you don't know why, you just love them. That is your unique inner voice which fuels your second brain and your creativity as an artist. Over time, if you paint or draw everything that fascinates you in your sketchbook, you collect references of your unique point of view of reality. Eventually the different fascinations you have collected can be connected together to create new ideas. Your "first brain" will make these connections, leading you to original ideas, and improvement.

That is the core of what I explain in my book, and I have case studies of artists from different disciplines, as well as exercises for those who don't know where to start and just need a little more step by step guidance. I also explain in detail my personal experience of how I got the idea for one my fantasy short stories called The Inventory of Semi-Precious Creatures by using this method and combining two of my unique fascinations: gemstones and fantasy creatures.

In summary: an artist's second brain is our sketchbook, and our unique fascinations is the key ingredient. Recreate everything that fascinates you as a drawing or painting in your sketchbook and over time your "first brain" will make connections between your unique fascinations, leading to original ideas, improvement, and meaningful work.

Thank you for reading and I wish you all the best in all your creative endeavors.

- Kiara.

Written by Kiara Maharaj, 10 June 2024.