Patent ID: 8777355

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a head unit that ejects ink; and a control unit that forms a metallic image by causing metallic ink that includes metallic particles to be ejected onto a medium from the head unit, wherein the control unit reduces an amount of the metallic ink that is ejected per unit area of the medium by thinning out predetermined pixels out of pixels that configure the metallic image while causing the metallic image to have a predetermined width or greater, and wherein the control unit changes the amount of the metallic ink that is ejected per unit area of the medium based on gradation values of the pixels that configure the metallic image such that an amount of the pixels which are thinned out for regions of the metallic image with low gradation values is increased, and, wherein in a case when the pixels are thinned out so that the metallic image becomes a striped pattern, the control unit thins out the pixels so that widths of striped portions of the metallic image become thin or intervals between stripes of the metallic image become wide for regions of the metallic image with low gradation values.