Welcome back to that thing where my mom told me that I should draw Tolkien characters how I see them in my head.

Why doesn't Legolas look like the common portrayals of him? Glad you asked, I saw wood elf and immediately my mind colored him in with beautiful forest palate colors. No blonde hair or pale skin, or blue eyes like in The Hobbit films, just brown hair, mocha skin and hazel-y eyes. The books say all elves are 'fair', yes, but fair can mean light skinned or beautiful, and since there's dark elves in many of Tolkien's works, to me that means it clearly didn't mean the former.

And Gimli is Gimli. No explanation for this design except that the dwarves in my mind look and dress in a way that dips between Gaelic and Norse. :)