An image forming apparatus includes circuitry that extracts a colorimetric area from an area in which an image is to be formed, and calculates a color difference between a first page and a second page and determine whether to continue printing based on the calculated color difference. The first page is a page that is printed in advance with a print job for one copy and for which a colorimetric value in the colorimetric area is registered as a reference value. The second page is a page that is repeatedly printed with the print job for a plurality of copies.