Image forming method and image forming apparatus

An image forming apparatus which comprises at least a charging assembly, an exposure unit, developing assemblies having developing rollers and two-component developers, a transfer assembly and a photosensitive member having at least a charge generation layer on a conductive support and a charge transport layer on the charge generation layer, and said two-component developer having a toner and a carrier, wherein;

• said photosensitive member has a surface having a modulus of elastic deformation of from 46% to 65% and a universal hardness value HU of from 1.5×108 N/m2 to 2.3×108 N/m2, and said charge transport layer has a layer thickness of from 8.0 μm to 20.0 μm;
• said toner has a weight-average particle diameter D4 of from 3.0 μm to 10.0 μm;
• said carrier has a volume-average particle diameter Dv of from 15.0 μm to 60.0 μm and an average circularity C of from 0.870 to 0.940, and contains 20% by number or less of particles having a value of (average circularity C−2σ) or less (σ is standard deviation of carrier circularity).