An image processing apparatus includes a printing unit to print an image on a sheet, a reading unit to read the sheet, a conversion unit to convert a background image stored in a storage medium into a reference image that represents the background image and has a luminance value higher than that of the background image, a print control unit to cause the printing unit to print the reference image obtained by the conversion unit, as an entry area for a user, on the sheet, an extraction unit to extract an image of an area that has a luminance value lower than a first threshold and a color-difference value greater than a second threshold from an image corresponding to the entry area included in the image read by the reading unit after an entry by the user in the entry area, and a combining unit to combine the image extracted by the extraction unit with the background image.