An image forming apparatus, comprising: a recording head comprising a plurality of recording elements, each recoding element being formed by a combination of a nozzle, a channel corresponding thereto and a pressurization mechanism, the recording head being a line head in which the plurality of recording elements is provided so that a plurality of nozzles is arranged over a width of a recoding medium, and configured to form an image in each row or line extending in a width direction; a drive unit configured to supply a drive voltage to a load element of each of the plurality of recording elements on the basis of image data to be formed and operating the load element; a voltage control unit configured to perform control so as to suppress a change in the drive voltage to be supplied to the drive unit; a resistor element connected to the voltage control unit and provided to correspond to the load element of the recording element; a switching element configured to switch supply of the drive voltage to the resistor element; and a load control unit configured to determine a non-driving state, in which a counted number of ink ejection nozzles is "0" for a predetermined number of consecutive rows (N+X) or more, and configured to control the switching element so as to supply the drive voltage to the resistor element in the case where the non-driving state changes over to a driving state in which operation related to voltage application is performed and a drive voltage is first applied to start operation of the recording element before a supply start timing at which the drive voltage is supplied to the load element of the recording element and in at least a part of a period in which the drive voltage is not supplied to any load element of the recording element. a recording head comprising a plurality of recording elements, each recoding element being formed by a combination of a nozzle, a channel corresponding thereto and a pressurization mechanism, the recording head being a line head in which the plurality of recording elements is provided so that a plurality of nozzles is arranged over a width of a recoding medium, and configured to form an image in each row or line extending in a width direction; a drive unit configured to supply a drive voltage to a load element of each of the plurality of recording elements on the basis of image data to be formed and operating the load element; a voltage control unit configured to perform control so as to suppress a change in the drive voltage to be supplied to the drive unit; a resistor element connected to the voltage control unit and provided to correspond to the load element of the recording element; a switching element configured to switch supply of the drive voltage to the resistor element; and a load control unit configured to determine a non-driving state, in which a counted number of ink ejection nozzles is "0" for a predetermined number of consecutive rows (N+X) or more, and configured to control the switching element so as to supply the drive voltage to the resistor element in the case where the non-driving state changes over to a driving state in which operation related to voltage application is performed and a drive voltage is first applied to start operation of the recording element before a supply start timing at which the drive voltage is supplied to the load element of the recording element and in at least a part of a period in which the drive voltage is not supplied to any load element of the recording element.