To provide a printing plate material which can thermally form an image, is excellent in plate wear and inking properties, high in dimensional stability, and uses a plastic film substrate, a method of printing using it, and a method of bending a printing plate.

The printing plate material has an image forming functional layer on a substrate. The substrate is composed of a polyester film in which the printing plate material can be bent by heating, and whose thickness distribution is ≤10%.