Patent ID: 8857962

Claim:
An image forming method comprising: applying a pretreatment liquid to a recording medium; and discharging an inkjet recording ink dropwise according to an image signal to form an image on the recording medium on which the pretreatment liquid has been applied, wherein: the recording medium is regular paper which has no coat layer; the pretreatment liquid comprises a cationic polymer compound, a surfactant A, water, and a water-soluble organic acid; wherein the water-soluble organic acid comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of aspartic acid, gluconic acid, pyruvic acid, adipic acid, phytic acid, and salts thereof; wherein the surfactant A comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid compounds, perfluoroalkyl carboxyl acid compounds, perfluoroalkyl phosphoric acid ester compounds, perfluoroalkyl ethylene oxide adducts, polyoxyalkylene ether polymer compounds having a perfluoroalkyl ether group in a side-chain, and nonionic silicone surfactants; the inkjet recording ink comprises a water-dispersible colorant, a water-soluble organic solvent, a surfactant B, a penetrating agent, and water; and the pretreatment liquid has a static surface tension of 20 mN/m to 30 mN/m.