An ink-jet recording apparatus and an ink-jet recording method which provide an image featuring reduced graininess and good gradation. A plurality of inks of different densities are used to obtain a halftone image with controlled graininess. An ink which has low penetrability on a recording medium and which controls the diffusion of dots is used as an ink with a relatively high density. An ink which has high penetrability and which permits easy diffusion of dots is used as an ink with a relatively low density. The present invention also provides a characteristic recorded article to be formed by a plurality of dots having different penetrabilities on a recording medium. Among a plurality of inks with different densities, the inks of the same color category are grouped and held in an ink container and are divided in the container by the ink density. This configuration makes it possible to make the containers smaller and minimize the number of containers.