Pyrography is the art or craft of decorating wood or leather with heated tools. The example of Stephenson's Rocket above was done on a Janik Sycamore plaque by Terry Leveritt of Form Crafts. Pyrography is as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. Many just use it as a means of adding a name to a product to personalize it. Woodturners or cabinet makers often burn their name or initials into their latest masterpieces.
Wood carvers use pyrography to burn feathers or other details onto birds and animals.
You do not necessarily need to be an artist to do this. Indeed very few pyrographers burn directly onto the object, but first make a faint pencil sketch onto which they burn subsequently. Any pencil lines showing can be easily rubbed out afterwards. There are many aids to doing this. One is to use a good quality wax free transfer paper such as Saral to transfer a design from any flat surface to the wood.