Image forming method comprising electrostatic transfer of developed image and corresponding image forming apparatus

An image forming method, comprising:

• (i) developing an electrostatic image formed on an electrostatic image-bearing member comprising an organic photoconductor with a developer to form thereon a developed image, said developer comprising 100 wt. parts of a magnetic toner and 0.05 to 3 wt. parts of fine powder treated with a silicone material selected from the group consisting of silicone oil and silicon varnish;
• wherein the magnetic toner
• (1) contains 17-60% by number of magnetic toner particles having a particle size of 5 microns or smaller, and
• (2) contains 5-50% by number of magnetic toner particles having a particle size of 6.35-10.08 microns;
• and
• (3) has a true density of 1.45 to 1.8 g/cm.sup.3 ;
• and
• (ii) electrostatically transferring the developed image on the electrostatic image-bearing member to a transfer material while pressing a transfer means supplied with a bias voltage against the electrostatic image-bearing member with the transfer material disposed between the electrostatic image-bearing member and the transfer means under a pressure condition.