Guide to Pyrography Techniques & Shading For Beginners
Pyrography, or wood burning, is the art of burning images and patterns into wood surfaces. This art form involves using many techniques to achieve different shading, textures, and dimensions in the image being burned.
The wide array of techniques to learn can seem intimidating to beginner pyrography artists, but with the help of video tutorials, learning wood burning techniques can be accessible to all. The more techniques you learn as a beginner, the more high-quality projects you will be able to complete.
It is important to spend time learning and practicing the following pyrography techniques so you can quickly advance to more complicated projects and designs.
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List of Beginner Wood Burning Techniques & Shading
The following are some of the main technique categories for wood burning. Most of the projects you encounter will involve one or more of these techniques, so becoming familiar with them will be beneficial to you as you progress in wood burning!
Remember that practice makes perfect. Although these are foundational wood burning techniques, don’t expect them to be easy! It may take months or even years to apply the following skills effectively.
1) Basic Outlining
(Outlining tutorial begins at 4:46)
The most basic technique in wood burning is outlining. All projects use some sort of outline to begin making the design come to life. Use a spear or universal pen tip for outlining and take your time drawing your lines.
This process is really similar to drawing with a pen or marker, just trace along the wood using one long, even stroke. The harder you press into the wood, the darker and more defined the line will be, just like when writing on paper.
2) Silhouette Filling
(Filling work begins at 3:10)
This technique involves filling in your design completely instead of applying any sort of shading. Essentially, the main design will be all black with a lighter background. This technique is great for beginners because it is easy and creates a really sharp finished product.
Use a flat, gradient tip or another wide tip and work with medium heat to avoid harsh burn lines. Work in circular motions to create a smooth, even finish.
3) Creating Gradients/Shading
Use a shader tip and use low heat for light shading. Work quickly in circular motions to maintain a light shade. To make darker shading, turn up the heat and continue working in circular motions. Shading can also be achieved by pulling your pen tip across the wood from one side of your work to the other.
This method can be trickier because it can cause darker burn marks. Dotting on the wood can also be used to create shading. Make small dots on the wood and turn up the heat for darker shading.
This method is extremely effective and gives a unique finish. The dotting method provides a lot of control, but is more time consuming than other shading techniques.
4) Hatching
Hatching is an easy alternative to shading. Use a tracing tip and work in one direction at a time. Draw thin lines in one direction and then cross hatch with lines going in the other direction to create a darker effect.
Hatching can be used for shading in small or large areas and in a wide range of designs.
5) Texturing
Applying texture to your wood burning design will give it more dimension and an interesting feel. If you create a lot of animal and nature designs, knowing how to create realistic fur, hair, feather, and scale textures will make your artwork come to life.
Use a skew tip, shader tip, or flat tip to create infinite textures. For lighter texture, use faster strokes and less heat. For darker, more pronounced texture, press harder into the wood and apply more heat.
6) Creating Backgrounds
Backgrounds can be made using shading, filling, or dotting. Use the skills you are most comfortable with when starting background work. Filling in the background completely using a torch or a wide pen tip is one of the most common methods for background work. Use even, long lines to create a smooth and even background.
Shading in various areas can also give an interesting effect to a background. Keep the area around your main design light and add darker shading to the border to bring the visual focus to your image.
Dotting is an old technique, but can be achieved with a round pen tip and a lot of patience! Different projects require different backgrounds, so experiment with what works best for you and your design.
7) Adding Color
Once you’ve created a few beginner projects, you may want to begin experimenting with adding color to your wood burning. There are many methods for adding pops of color and watercolor pencils are one of the best choices.
Watercolor pencils are easy to use and add subtle amounts of color that can be easily blended.
To add color to your wood burning, color with the watercolor pencils as desired. Use a wet paintbrush to blend colors together if you want a shaded effect.
This technique will add color to your wood burning without covering up all of the hard work you’ve done by wood burning.
8) Lettering (Stencils & Free Hand)
(Stencil discussion and tutorial begins at 1:05, lettering tutorial begins at 3:41)
Most wood burning artists will use lettering in projects. It is a good idea to get comfortable with lettering as a beginner so you can make signs and other fun projects.
Lettering uses other techniques like outlining, filling, and texturing. The first method of lettering uses a stencil. Trace your desired stencil onto wood to begin.
The best wood burning pen tips for lettering include straight edge, rounded, and wire tips. Straight edge tips are great for long, straight lines in your lettering. Rounded tips work best for curved lines and tight spaces.
Wire tips make outlining effortless and heat up faster. Use your desired pen tip to trace the outline of each letter. Fill in the letters with textures like stipples or straight lines. This adds visual interest to lettering.
Lettering can also be done free hand. Print out a font that you want and practice on scrap wood. Free hand lettering requires a lot of patience and attention to detail. The size and placement of letters takes a long time to master.
9) Pulling
(Pulling tutorial begins at 1:15)
The following techniques all come from the same helpful tutorial. These techniques are very basic wood burning techniques that will allow you to achieve different lines and textures.
Pulling involves making lines towards your body. Work in a downward motion towards yourself to make even, straight lines. The key is pull, not push. Pushing the pen tip into the wood will make it catch on the wood grain and form uneven, blobby lines.
Work with the grain in downward motions for the best pulling results.
10) Swinging
(Swinging begins in tutorial above at 3:00)
The swinging technique helps you avoid unwanted blobs at the beginning and ends of your wood burned lines. These blobs form because of hesitation. By swinging the pen instead of stopping, you will achieve smooth and tapered lines instead of messy ones.
Swing the pen back and forth, towards and away from yourself to make smooth vertical lines.
11) Touch
(Touch begins in tutorial above at 5:24)
The touch technique is like stippling without applying much pressure. This technique creates dots in your work that can be used for filling in letters, shading, or just adding texture.
To touch correctly, barely make contact with the wood. This will create light dots. For darker dots, do not press harder. Instead, hold your pen to the wood for a longer amount of time.
This technique helps you improve pen control and actually helps prolong the life of your pen. Digging the pen into the wood with a lot of pressure can damage it, so a proper touch technique will help both your wood burning projects and your tools.
Touch is also helpful for cleaning up blobby lines.
12) Sweeping
(Sweeping begins in tutorial above at 7:42)
Sweeping is a necessary technique for making grass, eyelashes, and similar shapes appear more realistic. To sweep, draw a line slowly at first, then speed up your stroke. This creates a tapered line that starts out thick and gets wispy at the end.
13) Scumbling
(Scumbling begins in tutorial above at 9:43)
Scumbling is a fun technique that sounds unusual but is actually used often by wood burners. It is done by making small continuous circles with your pen tip, similar to doodling.
This technique can be done with a range of pen tips to create texture and shading. When done with shader tips, it creates a very smooth and even burn.