An image forming apparatus including: a cylindrical photoconductor; a laser scanning section for forming an electrostatic latent image on a peripheral surface of the photoconductor; an image development section for developing the electrostatic latent image by using a toner; a toner storage section for storing the toner to be supplied; and a transfer section for transferring the visualized image with use of the toner onto a printing sheet, wherein the image development section is disposed upstream of a rotation direction of the photoconductor from the transfer section, the toner storage section is disposed above the image development section while having a predetermined distance from the image development section so as to form a space therebetween for releasing heat, and the laser scanning section emits the scanning beam obliquely upwardly with respect to a horizontal direction so that the emitted scanning beam passes through the space and exposes the peripheral surface.