IMAGE FORMING METHOD AND IMAGE FORMING DEVICE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To use a liquid ink advantageous to energy saving and environmental protection and to achieve functionality comparable to that of an electrophotographic system in a use in which target images vary in sequence. SOLUTION: An image forming material layer 1 consisting of an image forming material which suffers a discoloration reaction under a photocatalytic action is uniformly formed on the image forming face 3 of an image carrier 2. Writing is carried out by selectively irradiating a photocatalyst layer 4 formed on the surface of the image carrier with excitation light to partially cause the discoloration reaction in the image forming material layer, and a visible image is formed according to the presence/absence of the discoloration reaction in the image forming material layer. In particular, the photocatalyst layer is previously made hydrophilic by irradiation with excitation light and then a water-base ink solution consisting of an image forming material is applied to the image forming face of the surface of the photocatalyst layer to form the image forming material layer.