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I approached Earth-Pony a little while ago with the idea to make some comparison wood burning pieces to show the difference between my by hand technique and his laser burning technique. Then we figured it might be nice to make a break down of just how exactly we did it. So here it is folks, from concept to completion. This is how I make a wood burning piece.

Step 1: Inspiration
The first step for me is finding something that I want to burn. In this case, the piece was Praise the moon by Spectty

Step 2: Preperation
The second step is preparing everything. Below I have a picture of everything I used in putting this piece together.

From left to right
Polyurethane clear gloss and application brushes
Color and Black and White prints of the piece
Carbon transfer paper
Tape
Scale
The wood I will be burning onto, in this case it's a pine plaque
My reference burn, this helps me remember what color each setting gives
White water based paint and brush
Pencil
Woodburner and assorted tips, although I really only used 1 tip for this
Pliers
Glass of water in case of fire
And most importantly, the Ove' Glove (as seen on TV)

Step 3: Tracing (40 min)
Once I have everything together, I tape a piece of carbon transfer down on the wood first. Then I measure and mark to make sure that I can situate the art piece in the center of the wood block.

Then I trace all the lines on the page, the carbon paper allows it to transfer perfectly onto the wood.

Then I go back and add in any lines I forgot. For instance, in this one I forgot to trace over her mouth. So I just added it in by hand.

Step 4: Burning the Outline (1hr 10min)
Once I have everything traced an on the wood, I then break out the burner. On the highest heat setting.

This is the tip I normally use. It allows me to hold the burner at a better angle when I'm retracing all the lines. After outlining, the piece looks like this:

When I first stated I would have considered this done. But I've been trying to improve my techniques.

OPTIONAL STEP: Go out and buy a new wood burner because you broke a tip off in your old one
Feel free to get lunch while you're at it too.

You can see that I managed to shade in the eye before my burner broke on me.

Step 5: Shading (2hr 30min)
This is by far the most time consuming step. In my opinion it's also the most rewarding because you get to see the piece really come alive. For some reason, I normally start with the darkest ares first and then work my way down in temperature. This way I can control just how far away from black everything else is. It adds a little extra time because you have to wait a little between every temperature setting. Again, I used the same tip as the outlining, just going back and forth to fill in the areas. You can see the strokes I used when you look at the wood.

Just black fill area done

Finished shading with all variations of the color.

I really loved how the shading of this one turned out. No, the shading is not uniform in the least. But I feel that gives it part of that charm of being hand made.

Step 6: Painting (optional)
For some pieces, I've found that adding just a little bit of paint can really make the piece pop more. For this one, I only painted the moons in the background and the whites of her eyes. It really helps them pop out more as a contrast to the tan of the wood.

Step 7: Clear Coat
I normally clear coat all my pieces with a polyurethane clear gloss. This gives them a wonderful shiny appearance and helps protect the artwork. I apply at least 3 layers of clear coat. Have to wait 2 hours between each coat, so this step takes pretty long. But its worth it in the final product.

And that's how Equestria was made! Uh... I mean, that's how I put together a wood burning piece. This has to be one of my personal favorite pieces. Again I want to thank Spectty for his wonderful artwork and Earth-Pony for agreeing to work with me. Hope you all check out their work!