How to Transfer a Design with a Pencil

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Have you ever wondered how people make those perfectly painted signs? Well, there are many different ways to achieve the same look, but this is one I learned in an art class back in school. I’ll show you how I transfer a printed design with a pencil as a guide to paint.

This method works great on things like wood, paper, cardboard, etc.

Learn How to Transfer a Design onto Wood

Pick a design that you would like to trace. For this example, I am using this design you can download for free. But you can transfer anything you can print out on a piece of paper.

1 | Print the Design

Print out your design the size you would like your end design to be. For this project, I am using a 3-inch diameter wood slice. If you haven’t read my tutorial on how to make DIY Wood Slices yourself for free, you can read about it here.

2 | Shade the back with a Pencil

Next, flip the design over and color over the back of the paper with a pencil.

It is important to make sure it is a graphite pencil (a regular writing pencil) and not a colored pencil. The colored pencils contain wax and will not transfer as a regular writing pencil will. A darker drawing pencil is a great option as well and will help your design stand out more against the wood grain.

Make sure to shade the entire back of the design.

3 | Trace onto the Wood

Tape your design into place and trace over your design. I prefer to use masking tape, but paint tape will work too.

You will want to use a bit of pressure while tracing your design.

4 | Finish with your Preferred Method

Now that you’ve learned how to transfer a design with a pencil, you’ll want to pick how you would like to finish your design. These are just a couple of examples of the many ways to finish your designs!

Paint

For this wood slice, I painted over the traced on design. You can also use a paint pen and, with some wood, you can use a Sharpie. If you decide to use a Sharpie, make sure to test it on the back first, because it can feather and bleed on some types of wood. The Christmas Tree design can be downloaded for free here.

I personally didn’t care if my design turned out perfect, so I took a little liberty when painting the inner part of the tree.

Transfer a Design onto Wood | painted christmas tree

Pyrography (Wood Burning)

For this wood slice, I burned the flower design into the wood with a wood-burning tool. I’m relatively new to pyrography, so it isn’t perfect. (For this design, I used this free design from Craft House SVG)