Grim Paintings

One of my projects is the development of a web-comic in my spare time. Inspired by old world world fairy tales Grim is an Arthurian legend set during the Dark Ages when war is a constant and fear common. In this time magic is as real as any blade, and pervades every part of the world including the animals, giving them sentience and human emotions. I've designing and evolving the art style and this is a sample of how I have been developing the comics art style. this is sample of the sentient rats in the story.

The storyline of the rats is that they were at one time enslaved by the hares and though their now free, they live amongst the hares as a second class citizen within the hare kingdom known as the Warrens, which was built upon the backs of the rats enslaved ancestors. Some rats live within the Warrens seeking to survive in a world where they are barely tolerated, some rally together in secret working towards equality, peacefully for some and through bloodshed for others. And some leave the Warrens altogether seeking a new life and a new land to call their own. 

The style for the animals evolved gradually for the animals the first designs being much more humanoid by desig. I later changed this design drawing inspiration from movies like The Secret of Nimh and The Great Mouse Detective This style I felt sold the fairy tale motif more effectively than the earlier graphic novel style.