Disclosed herein is an image forming process, comprising the steps of: ejecting droplets of a liquid ink containing a disperse dye according to predetermined information to form an image on an ink-absorbent printing sheet; bringing the printing sheet into close contact under heat with an ink-nonabsorbent base material having a receiving layer for receiving the disperse dye to diffuse the disperse dye into the receiving layer; and separating the printing sheet from the base material, wherein the receiving layer comprises a resin having a pencil hardness of H or harder as determined by the pencil hardness test in accordance with JIS K 5400.