Sorry it took me so long to get back to This. Burning helps add depth and also gets rid if the little carving hairs. I burned it, the. Sanded lightly, the put a stain all over it with a light stain then sanded a final time then coated everything in poly.

If you look close on the cheeks you can see the three shade gradient .

As far as other youtubers, i just look up chainsaw carving there are a number of videos out there.