ArcInfo is a great tool for creating beautiful quality maps. Since winning the "Best Cartographic Publication" award at the 1995 user conference with an "attention getting" color relief map portraying the Interior Columbia Basin Ecosystem Management Project Area, there have been hundreds of inquiries concerning techniques used in creating the colored terrain backdrop for this map. This presentation will cover the process of creating "painted relief" with ArcInfo software and the RGB color model. The discussion will progress through examples of creating painted relief beginning with the very simple and proceeding to the very complex: (1) gray scale and monochromatic shaded relief maps; (2) single theme painted relief; (3) multitheme painted relief that highlights study areas, corridors, or other special zones; and (4) incorporation of landscape patterns from satellite imagery into painted relief images.