Gollum - An Experiment in Figure Painting and Light

This piece was my first real attempt at figure painting, and also my first proper use of an airbrush. Prompted on by someone in my modelling group, I wanted to step away from my usual miniature scenes and try something more focused on atmosphere, colour, and character.

The model is a resin 3D print of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, produced by 3D Gizmo. Rather than painting him with the more natural skin tones often seen on collectible figures, I wanted to capture the way he appears in the films… pale, damp, and almost turquoise from the cold cave light surrounding him. The bright blue eyes were especially important to me, as they are one of the most striking parts of the character on screen.

The figure arrived in three sections: the rock and ring base, the lower body, and the upper body. I began by priming everything in black before building up many thin layers of dark turquoise through the airbrush. From there, I applied ice yellow from above and slightly to the left using zenithal highlighting, creating the impression of natural light falling into the cave from overhead. Thin translucent layers of skin tone were then sprayed over the top, allowing the cooler colours beneath to subtly show through the skin.

To recreate the reflected cave light from the water below, I then applied turquoise from underneath using nadir highlighting, spraying upwards at roughly a forty-five-degree angle.

The aim was to give the whole figure the damp, cold feeling seen in the film rather than simply painting him as a flesh-coloured creature standing on a rock.

The base was painted separately using layered greys, turquoise tones, mossy greens, and gloss varnish to give the rocks a wet, cave-like finish. The ring was sprayed in gold and bronze, with the lettering carefully picked out by hand in red. Once the airbrushed lighting was complete, the rest of the figure was finished with traditional brushwork -  dirty fingernails and toenails, veins beneath the skin, liver spots, grime, and the worn hessian loincloth. I paid particular attention to the backs of the hands and the small silver fish, trying to give them the look of something constantly damp and underground.

The final stage was the face and eyes. I wanted the eyes to stand out sharply against the muted skin tones, using a bright crystal blue finish with a reflective shine to create that unsettling, almost luminous stare.

This was a very different kind of project from my usual diorama work… less about storytelling through absurd scenes, and more about trying to capture mood, light, and texture through paint alone. As a first attempt at figure painting, it taught me a huge amount, and it opened up an entirely new side of the hobby for me.