Editing Relief printing (section)

{{short description|Family of printing methods}}
{{see also|Flexography|Letterpress printing}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=October 2012}}
[[Image:Principle of Relief Printing.svg|thumb|The basic concept of relief printing. ''A'' is the block or matrix; ''B'' is the paper; the thick black lines are the inked areas. (The thickness of the ink is greatly exaggerated for illustration.)]]
{{History of printing}}
'''Relief printing''' is a family of [[printing]] methods where a printing block, plate or [[matrix (printing)|matrix]], 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. A [[printing press]] may not be needed, as the back of the paper can be rubbed or pressed by hand with a simple tool such as a [[brayer]] or roller. In contrast, in [[Intaglio (printmaking)|intaglio]] printing, the ''recessed'' areas are printed.

Relief printing is one of the traditional families of printmaking techniques, along with the [[Intaglio (printmaking)|intaglio]] and [[planographic printing|planographic]] families, though modern developments have created others.