Methods and apparatuses for roll coating are provided. The roll coating system (100) includes a coating roll (110) having a deformable inner layer (12) with a surface thereof covered by a deformable outer layer (14), the inner layer being softer than the outer layer. A substrate (3) is conveyed to the nip (12) between the coating roll and a back-up roll (120). A metered coating material is transferred from the coating roll to a patterned surface structure (40) of the substrate at the nip to form a conformal coating on the patterned structure of the substrate.