This might not be a problem with Word Art, but rather the printer settings.
You might consider lightening the intensity of the color black. There's
possibly an adjustment that needs to be changed, and customized through color
settings in general; especially if it prints just fine to a B & W printer.
Depending on the type and complexity of the document, consider printing at
the slowest setting possible, with diffusion. This might highlight the color
detail, and eliminate the problem. Check the setting for "auto", "lightness",
and "darkness" of the overall document, as well.

"Mark Duncan" wrote:

I'm running Office 2003 SP1 on WinXP SP 2 box.

When I try to print WordArt to an HP Color LaserJet (any series 5 driver)
the first letter of the WordArt always prints with a black background.
Anybody have any ideas about how to stop this? Even if I put a space as the
first character, the first visible character prints like this.

If I send the print to a B & W printer, there is no problem......