An image forming apparatus discharges ink onto a recording medium to form an image on a surface of the recording medium. The image forming apparatus includes a preprocessing unit that applies preprocess liquid on the surface of the recording medium before the image is formed; and a postprocessing unit that applies postprocess liquid, which is different from the preprocess liquid, onto the recording medium after the image is formed. An application quantity of the preprocess liquid is determined based at least on a kind of the ink, and an application quantity of the postprocess liquid is determined based at least on the kind of the ink.