The image forming method for forming an image on a recording medium by forming dots on the recording medium by depositing droplets on the recording medium by a
recording head having a plurality of nozzles ejecting the droplets while moving the
recording head and the recording medium relatively to each other by conveying at least one of the
recording head and the recording medium in a relative conveyance direction, wherein the image to be formed is divided into a plurality of regions; a density in each of the plurality of regions is set as a prescribed density so as to form the image; a
droplet deposition rate is defined as a ratio of a number of the dots actually formed by depositing the droplets from one of the nozzles within each of the plurality of regions with respect to a maximum number of the dots formable by depositing the droplets from the one of the nozzles within the region; and tonal
gradation in the image is represented by means of a collection of the dots based on a dot arrangement specified according to the
droplet deposition rate calculated from image data of the image to be formed, the image forming method comprises: a
droplet deposition rate calculation step of calculating the droplet
deposition rate from the image data; a dot arrangement specification step of specifying a dot arrangement pattern from the droplet
deposition rate calculated in the droplet
deposition rate calculation step; and a droplet deposition control step of controlling droplet deposition operation performed by the recording head in such a manner that the dot arrangement pattern specified in the dot arrangement specification step is achieved, wherein, in at least one of the plurality of the regions where the droplet deposition rate calculated in the droplet deposition rate calculation step is lower than a maximum droplet deposition rate and is higher than a prescribed reference value, a dot line in a main scanning direction substantially perpendicular to the relative conveyance direction is formed in which the dots are continuously aligned so as to mutually overlap by a prescribed
overlap ratio, in accordance with the droplet deposition rate calculated in the droplet deposition rate calculation step.