The image forming apparatus comprises: a droplet ejection head which ejects a droplet of a liquid having electrorheological properties toward a recording medium; an electric field application device which applies an electric field to the droplet deposited on the recording medium; a recording medium type determining device which determines a type of the recording medium; and an electric field intensity controller which controls intensity of the electric field applied to the droplet deposited on the recording medium by the electric field application device, in accordance with a determination result for the recording medium obtained through the recording medium type determining device, in such a manner that a permeation velocity into the recording medium of the droplet deposited on the recording medium becomes a prescribed permeation velocity.