Seehas
Bringing a Lake Constance legend into 3D-printed character
A custom 30 cm 3D-printed figurine inspired by a local Lake Constance legend, created in close collaboration with the client from first sketches to final prototype.
The story behind the Seehas
Eckhard Besuden is an artist from the Lake Constance region, where the “Seehas” is a well-known local figure with almost mythical character. In one of his paintings, he created his own modern interpretation of this Seehas – a playful, symbolic character that quickly became one of his recognisable motifs.
For this project, he wanted to take that painted figure one step further and turn it into a three-dimensional character that could be 3D printed as a physical sculpture.
3D sculpting & refinement
I first blocked out the main volumes in 3D to test the silhouette, then gradually added anatomy, clothing and surface details. At each stage I shared previews with Eckhard, so he could confirm that the sculpt still felt like his original Seehas and request small adjustments where needed.
Close collaboration
To keep the 3D Seehas as close as possible to Eckhard’s vision, we reviewed the sculpt together in SyncSketch, adding comments and sketches directly on top of the model. This made it easy to fine-tune pose, expression and details with clear direction from the artist at every stage.
Smart cuts for clean details
If we had printed the glasses and snorkel as one piece with the head, the printer would have left marks and blocks across the face and ruined the fine details. So I separated them into three parts and cut them in a way that they can be plugged back in neatly after printing, so the face stays clean and readable.
Prototype
The first 30 cm prototype allowed us to check proportions, stability and details in real life. From there we could make small adjustments before moving on to further prints or a potential small series.
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Eckhard Besuden
Write me a message
If you have a character, painting or idea you’d like to see in 3D, feel free to send me a message. I’m happy to hear about your project and usually reply within one day.