Patent ID: 8323863

Claim:
An image forming method, comprising: forming at least one electrostatic charge image on a surface of at least one image holding member; developing the at least one electrostatic charge image using a light-irradiation-fusible black toner and a light-irradiation-fusible color toner to form a black toner image and a color toner image; transferring the black toner image and the color toner image to a surface of a receiving body; and fixing the black toner image and the color toner image transferred to the surface of the receiving body by light-irradiation fusing with irradiation of light in the infrared region, the black toner being melted by the irradiation of the light in the infrared region in the light-irradiation fusing, the color toner containing an infrared absorber represented by the following Formula (I): a light absorptance of the color toner at a peak wavelength of the light in the infrared region irradiated in the light-irradiation fusing being from about 79% to about 98% of a light absorptance of the black toner at the peak wavelength, and the color toner having a color difference ΔE represented by the following Equation (1) of about 20 or less, Δ E ={( L 1 −L 2 ) 2 +( a 1 −a 2 ) 2 +( b 1 −b 2 ) 2 } 1/2 , Equation (1) in Equation (1), L 2 , a 2 , and b 2 representing an L value, an a value, and a b value of the light-irradiation-fusible color toner in a fixed image, and L 1 , a 1 , and b 1 representing an L value, an a value, and a b value of a color toner obtained by excluding the infrared absorber from the light-irradiation-fusible color toner, in a fixed image.