Thermal transfer printing apparatus

A thermal transfer type printing apparatus comprising:

• a thermal printing head;
• a recording paper;
• an ink transfer sheet comprising first and second ink portions and placed between said thermal printing head and said recording paper, said first ink portion being coated with white or transparent ink, said second ink portion being coated with ink of a predetermined color;
• input terminal means applied with input data related to an image which is to be printed on said recording paper;
• and
• control means for controlling heating times of said thermal printing head responsive to said input data so as to heat and melt the ink of said ink transfer sheet on said recording paper depending on said input data,
• said thermal printing head under control of said control means making recordings by first transferring the white or transparent ink of said first ink portion on said recording paper depending on said input data and thereafter transferring the ink of the predetermined color of said second ink portion on top of the recordings made by the white or transparent ink of said first ink portion depending on said input data,
• said control means controlling the heating times of said thermal printing head so that an area of each recording made on said recording paper with the white or transparent ink of said first ink portion is greater than an area of a corresponding recording made with the ink of the predetermined color of said second ink portion.