Disclosed is a printing apparatus that forms a color image and a background image on a medium by repeating a dot formation operation of causing ink to be discharged from a first nozzle array and a second nozzle array moving in a moving direction so as to form the color dot and the background dot on the medium and a transport operation of transporting the medium in a transport direction, wherein a pixel in which the background dot is formed on the color dot and a pixel in which the color dot is formed on the background dot are mixed so as to form an area where the color image and the background image overlap.