Relief printing is a family ofprinting methods where a printing block, plate ormatrix, which has had ink applied to its non-recessed surface, is brought into contact with paper. The non-recessed surface will leave ink on the paper, whereas the recessed areas will not. Aprinting press may not be needed, as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a simple tool such as abrayer or roller. In contrast, inintaglio printing, therecessed areas are printed.

Relief printing is one of the traditional families of printmaking techniques, along with theintaglio andplanographic families, though modern developments have created others.

In the relief family of printing, the matrix was historically madesubtractively, by removing material from the surface of areas not intended to be printed. The remaining surface would then receive ink. The relief family of techniques includeswoodcut,metalcut,wood engraving,relief etching,linocut,rubber stamp, foam printing, potato printing, and some types ofcollagraph.

By contrast, in the intaglio family of printing, the recessed areas are printed by inking the whole matrix, then wiping the surface so that only ink in the recessed areas remain. Much greater pressure is then needed to force the paper into the channels containing the ink, so a high-pressure press is normally needed. Intaglio techniques includeengraving,etching, anddrypoint.

In theplanographic family of printing, the entire surface of the matrix is flat, and some areas are treated to create the print image.^[1] Planographic techniques includelithography andoffset lithography.

Normally, relief and intaglio techniques can only be mixed with others of the same family in the same printed page, unless the page is printed twice.

Traditional text printing withmovable type is also a relief technique. This meant that woodcuts were much easier to use as book illustrations, as they could be printed together with the text. Intaglio illustrations, such as engravings, had to be printed separately.

The first relief-printed publication in the US, the multi-page newspaperPublick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, was published on September 25, 1690.^[2]

• List of art media
• List of art techniques
• Viscosity printing

• Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on relief printing
• Types of Relief Printing Descriptions of woodcuts, engravings, linoleum cuts, and monotype relief printing.
• See alsoRelief printing techniques as used and described by French printmaker Dominique Lecomte