Author's Note: I must admit I was taken aback when I first saw Gollum in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. This image fits my vision and I think Tolkien's a bit closer. He was supposed to have large pale lamp-like eyes that were somewhat luminescent and burned with a green fire when angry. He also had webbed-feet (so I guessed webbed fingers, too), fangs and was described as frog-like. The large bat ears were my own invention as I thought he would develop superior hearing after living in the dark for 500 years (which is also why I thought his eyes would be blank).
I started out with a simple drawing and once I painted the head and liked it, found a pose reference and shot a photo of my hand. No other references used. I only used a round brush and a "stipple" brush to do the whole thing except for some filters to create the water. See all that stuff here.
Please view full