Galadriel
28mm LOTR figure from Games Workshop
Painted in 2026
Commissions, probably most painters would like to have their work appreciated enough that someone wants to either buy something they’ve done, or be contacted to paint a piece.
It sounds great, and yes, it is, it’s a direct compliment to your skill as a painter from someone you don’t necessarily know yet.
There are a couple of things to consider though, and they’re very, very important.
First off, the piece you’re being asked to paint, do you like the model or does it interest you. ?
It’s really important that it enthuses you, because otherwise, it will be a drain on you, and do enough of that type of thing, and you’ll stop enjoying the hobbyaltogether.
Second, Is the time worth it ?
This returns to the above, but also, you could be painting something for yourself instead. So is it paying enough – think of minimum wage here – and do you have the time to spend painting for someone else ?
Third, have you got the model, can you get the model, or are they sending it ? And of course, is it a genuine model from a reputable company, because you don’t want to be associated with pirate copies.
Finally, are you OK with letting models go ?
It’s for someone else, so at some point you’re going to have to send it away, sometimes that can be hard, particularly if you really like the piece.
Oh, and finally, finally, what would you do if the colour scheme chosen by the customer is not to your taste ?
Either you don’t usually work in those colours, or it’s not how you ( or the piece itself ) is generally portrayed .
Which brings me on to this piece that I was commissioned to paint.
One of the older LOTR figures from Games Workshop in metal, beautifully sculpted, although not an exact resemblance to Cate Blanchett, but close enough for most of us.
The bare model, with minimal clean up is shown in photo #1
And to be honest, I thought this’ll be pretty simple to paint, mainly acrylics, a lot of pale blue and white, with most of the work going into the face, because that’s the area that pulls the eye.
Photos #2 and #3 show the cloak painted with primer white, with a gradual addition of pale blue – both MP acrylics, and the blue strengthening in colour towards the bottom hemline.
Photos #4 and #5 and the central panel of the dress and the sleeves have been painted with a darker mix of the blue.
This has murdered the shading and blending on the cloak, which now looks like it’s back to having just been primed in white.
I was not happy.
Funnily enough, neither was the customer to be honest. He has daughters and wanted a pink overall scheme, and to be honest, I was pleased to make the change.
Photo #6 and I’ve repainted the cloak along the same lines as the initial pale blue / white scheme, having the stronger pink colouration towards the bottom of the cloak, and rising to much paler pink at the shoulders and the hood.
I’ve undercoated the dress panel with a pale green acrylic. I felt that green would compliment the pink better than blue.
Photo #7 shows the back of the figure at this point, the bright lighting of the photo booth does drain the subtle change of colour running up the cloak, but it’s there.
At this point I showed pictures to the customer to check that it was going in the right direction – which he confirmed it was and liked the green colouration of the dress.
Photo #8. I’ve used oils to finish the green dress areas, I feel it requires some deeper shadows yet, but those will be easier to add and gauge the depth of colour needed once the green oils have dried.
I’ve painted the face and hand in this shot, erring on the use of pale colours – she’s an elf after all.
The usual mix of Mars Brown and a lot of Titanium White were used as a basis, but some Sepia was added to “grey off” the warmth of the brown to a certain extent. As with the green dress, more shadows will be added once the oils already on the face have dried, and some striking either green or blue eyes. Personally my choice would be green which the dress will help bring out, blue may hedge over into appearing black if painted in too dark, or if the blue is too pale, then the eyes could look dead and almost zombiefied.
Photo #9 shows a slightly different angle of the model at this stage, the face looks a little better in that the shading can be seen more easily. It’s still a bit subtle though and with the naked eye probably looks a bit bland.
Photo #10. A shot taken of the back of the model, and that cloak is again looking a little monochrome. More shadows will probably bring this back up to match the front of the model, but that bright green is going to fight the paler colours quite a bit I think.
Photo #11. The client already had the GW Eowyn figure and had mentioned that they liked the tree that was attached to the base, so I thought something similar could perhaps be done with Galadriel.
The cobbled pathway was a small random section of resin that I broke up and trimmed so that part of it matched the front profile of the 40mm base I planned to use, and gaps were filled initially with Magic Sculpt followed by Chinchilla sand and some superglue.
I added several small clumps of ready made static grass, then painted the whole groundwork section with some MP Earth acrylics mixed with Isopropyl Alcohol, following this with a couple more coats of the same paint but thinned with water and finally added some Warm Sepia oils mixed with a little White Spirit to allow the paint to flow into the detail.
A bit of heat from a hairdryer to get rid of most of the White Spirit, and then Mars Yellow and some Buff Titanium oils were applied is a random stippling manner to bring out the different textures on the groundwork.
I used a brush dampened with a little White Spirit to remove a section of the oil paint where Galadriel would stand, allowing half an hour for this to dry off, and then glued her in place adding a squirt of accelerator to make sire the glue gripped the figure properly.
To finish off, the plastic base and the edge of the cobbles were painted with a couple of coats of black acrylic and that was the model done.
Final thoughts.
Although nowhere near as caricatured as the Warhammer and Warhammer 40K range of figures, Games Workshop’s sculptors have really managed to put together a superb range of metal figures with really great faces that paint up well.
The eyes on this figure were more difficult to paint than the Eowyn figure, but that’s the only part of the model that “fought” me during the painting process.
Purists might say the colour scheme diverges from the one in Peter Jackson’s film, but this after all is fantasy, and who knows what was in Tolkien’s imagination when he wrote the stories.
I’ve always thought that Wood Elves would dress in forest colours – browns and greens – so I was glad to add some of this to the figure on the dress.
The pink of the cloak – well she’s royalty, so she can dress how the heck she wants, it’s not like she needs to blend into the forest like a ranger or guardian would.
And it makes for a bright, eye-catching figure, which to be brutally honest, I rather like.
I’m sorry to see her go to Phil ( the chap who commissioned her ) but then I could always get another one and paint it up for myself.
Only time will tell on that….. I might buy the figure, but will I get chance to paint it ?
We’ll just have to see.
That said, it does make me want to browse the other models in the GW LOTR range, although if memory serves me, I’ve got a few already…… A trip with sandwiches, a torch and possibly a map into the darker recesses of the loft beckons….