My alcohol-based ink finally came yesterday so I got to do some direct comparisons between media. First off, alcohol-based ink will disperse flawlessly across Yupo if you wet it with alcohol. The yellow background in the painting (top right) shows this. Second, if you let it dry, and then drop some alcohol on top of the dried alcohol, an empty circle will form. If you add more ink into that circle, it will disperse again. Since Yupo is perfectly smooth, it imparts no texture to the painting.
Compare all of this with the behavior of alcohol and watercolor ink on a sheet of watercolor paper (see bottom right). Note how the dispersion patterns are rough and imperfect. Alcohol still creates circles, but they are more irregular and also fainter.
The biggest drawback of using so much alcohol in the studio is the fumes. Wow, does it get fumey! And that's with the window and door wide open to admit fresh air.
