What technology was used to create the images in the body of my question?

Question

3D

I want to understand how the pictures below were created as an example.
Although they were taken from the source site as .png pictures, they were clearly not created simply in Photoshope.
Creation options:

1. This is originally vector graphics using programs like Adobe Illustartor or Inskape on Linux and then exported to .png
   
2. This is initially 3D modeling in one of the programs like Blender on Linux or 3D Max or Maya, then export to a program for working with vector graphics like Illustator and then export to a raster in .png
   

Can you tell me which of these options is correct?
Here are sample images:
All examples are taken from the site - https://egghead.io/ (to preserve copyright)

Answer 1

This is pure 2D, because many details have an irregular (hypertrophied or conditional) shape, for example, details with perspective distortions and a lot of shadows. Using gradients to simulate lighting is an old and trusted technique that good artists are very good at, and which produces results that look cleaner and crisper than rendering 3D objects.
Any artist who really knows how to draw, and not just use a vector editor, will draw this faster than a modeler can do it in 3D.