Image forming apparatus and image forming method

An image forming method comprising:

• a first charging process of charging an external additive and a transfer residual toner remaining on an image carrier and the image carrier after transfer to the same polarity as a polarity of a toner;
• a cleaning process of cleaning the image carrier using a cleaning member by electrostatically attracting the external additive and the transfer residual toner on the image carrier charged in the first charging process to the same polarity as the polarity of the toner,
• a second charging process of charging the image carrier to an electric potential smaller in absolute value than an electric potential of the cleaned image carrier;
• an exposure process of forming a latent image on the image carrier of which the electric potential is adjusted in the second charging process;
• a developing process of developing the latent image on the image carrier so as to form a toner image by using the toner charged to a predetermined polarity;
• and
• a transfer process of transferring the toner image on the image carrier to a transfer medium,
• wherein the cleaning member is charged to the same polarity as the polarity of the toner and electrostatically attracts the external additive and the transfer residual toner by an electronic field between the charged image carrier and the cleaning member.