Starting with a Colored Photograph

Many times as a wood burner I will have a colored photograph or colored image that I want to create into a wood burned design.  But it can be confusing at times to determine exactly what tonal value I need to burn for a particular color in the photo or pattern.  By creating a sepia value scale I can determine exactly what tones of brown I need to burn into my design to match the original photo.

The Mule Deer carving was created for Wood Carving Illustrated Magazine.  It is a deep carved relief work which was painted with acrylic artist colors after the carving was completed.  The photo of the colored carving will be used as the sample photo in this tutorial.

Print a copy of the colored Mule Deer image with your computer's printer.  For the best results use a high quality gloss paper and the highest ink setting that your printer allows.
   
     

As wood burner we do not work in color but instead in how dark or how light a shade of brown wood burning an area will be.  These light and dark shades are called tonal values.  Light areas are called pale values as they contain more white than black.  Dark values are the reverse, they have a higher black content than white.  Notice in the gray scale version of the Mule Deer photo that his face is made up of light or pale values where his body is created using medium and dark values.

With a graphics program or photo editing program change your colored mule deer photo to a black and white or gray scaled image.  If you do not have a graphics program print a copy of the gray scaled Mule Deer that you will find by clicking on the Close Up.   Again, use the best quality paper and best setting on your printer's ink.

Very early photographs were not printed in black and white but instead they had many shades of brown.  This range of brown values is called sepia.  That is the range that wood burners use in creating our work.  

Start by creating a Sepia Value Scale.  On a wood surface mark a test grid of squares or rectangles in which to burn each value tone.  My sepia scale sample was worked on birch plywood.  The test squares are 1 1/2" long by 1/2" high with 13 rectangles total.

I am using a variable temperature setting tool with the basic writing tip.  The thermostat was set at a medium temperature throughout the burning of the sepia scale.  Create your test on the wood that you most commonly wood burn.

The first or top rectangle was not burned.  This is my palest sepia value, the original color of the wood surface. In the second rectangle I burned fine lines along the diagonal of the rectangle.   For the third rectangle I burned that same pattern of diagonal lines then added a second layer of burning using diagonal line going in the opposite direction.  The fourth rectangle has both sets of diagonal lines then a third layer of burning was added by using horizontal lines.  The fifth test pattern has the above three burnings and a fourth layer of vertical lines.

With each new rectangle a new layer of burning was added and worked in a new direction to those already done.  Notice how with the addition of a new layer of burning the test sample rectangles slowly and gradually become darker in tonal value.

Click for Close Up

Sepia Value Scales Chart
A sepia value scale will become
an important part of your
wood burning kit.  You will 
refer to it many times as
your wood burning skills
increase.

In my test sample of the Sepia Value Scale I needed twelve rectangles to finally create a deep black chocolate tone.  This is a very wide range of possible color tones that I can use in any design.

The texture that was used to create the test rectangles is called Cross Hatching.  In the Daisy Corner burning you can see how that cross hatch pattern looks when used in a design.

The Daisy Corner pattern is from "The Great Book of Floral Patterns".
      
      
       

Once your Sepia Scale is completed make a scan of the test board or take a photo of it.  With your graphics program or photo editing program change the photo from color to gray scale mode.

In the image I have gray scaled my sepia burning then laid the two images side by side.  I can now compare each rectangle, gray scale to sepia scale.

If you do not have a scanner or digital camera print a copy of my gray scale-sepia scale image from the Close Up.  Use the best quality paper and best setting on your printer's ink to create a permanent copy for your wood burning kit.

Even though it is very easy to keep and print a copy of my value scales, please take the time to burn your own test sample.  The learning, practice, and experience in creating your own is invaluable.
      
     
     

Lay the Comparison Value Scale Chart that you created in the above step onto the gray scaled photo of the Mule Deer.  Chose one small area in the Mule Deer.  Note which of the gray scale value rectangles match in lightness or darkness that part of the Mule Deer.  Move to the corresponding rectangle on the Sepia Value Scale and you will know which tone of brown you will want to burn for that area.

Some photos have so much detailing and shading that it can be difficult to discover exactly where one area of the photo matches your value chart.  You can isolate these areas from the rest of the photo by creating a small viewing window.  Cut a 2" square from a piece of heavy white paper.  In the center of the square cut a small 1/4" hole.  Place the paper square on the photo so that the difficult area shows through the 1/4" viewing hole.  You can now slide your comparison chart up and down beside the viewing hole until you match the value tones.

    

Here is the final wood burning that was created from the Mule Deer color photograph.  In this image I have the gray scaled photo, the comparison chart and the wood burning lined up so that you can see the sepia values.  

Notice that I can find one value in the gray scaled photo and compare that value to the gray value scale.  Next I move across my comparison chart into the sepia values scale.  I now know exactly what shade of brown or sepia color to which that area needs to be burned.

By working with the sepia value scale I can achieve many more tones of brown than I might have without it.  I can insure that each shade is appropriate to the original gray scale of the photo.  Plus I can compare each area as I work to determine if an area needs to be light, medium or dark when the burning is finished.

Here's the finished wood burning.  It was worked on a piece of 4 quarter basswood that had been cut into a boat oar shape.  The burning contains a very wide range of sepia values from extremely pale in the antlers and face to extremely dark in the body, muzzle, neck, and log areas. The finished work has a strong sense of dimension because of the wide range of values used. 
 

The pattern image to the left is placed here so that you can practice with the cross hatch texture pattern on your own.  As you work this wood burning try to use each sepia scale value in the design that you created on your practice sepia scale.  

The Daisy Corner pattern is from "The Great Book of Floral Patterns".

Woodburning 101
The Basic Woodburning Tool
Basic Woodburning Strokes and Textures
Woodburning Scene Samples
Step by Step Instructions Project
Working With Watercolors
Adding Skin Color to your Portraits
The Color Wheel or Who is Roy G. Biv?
NEW! Wood Burning Sepia Values