Motion Graphics · Case Study

A 3D Study of Creation

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Introduction

A 3D Study of Creation is a 20-second looping motion piece. My own line drawings float in 3D space, and a camera moves through them: Michelangelo's hands of God and Adam, a tower from Tehran, a Renaissance church, an architect drawing in his sketchbook, and my own skull. From the front, they lock into one image. From the side, they break apart. Every line was drawn by hand with the pen tool in Illustrator.

• Project type: Course project, Motion Graphics 1 (DSN1558), Algonquin College, Fall 2025
• Role: Solo illustrator, designer, and animator
• Category: Motion graphics / 3D layers / illustration
• Programs: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe After Effects
• Audio: From the Pixabay collection

The Challenge

The brief asked for a motion piece built from 3D layers, focused on depth, movement, and visual appeal. We had to prepare our own assets, turn them into 3D layers, and use cameras, lights, and animation to create depth. Halfway through, we presented a style frame for feedback. Technical execution counted for the most marks.

My own challenge was harder: make depth readable using only thin lines on black. With no shading and no solid shapes, the camera has to do all the work of showing what is near and what is far.

Constraints: line art only, a mid-project style frame review, and a loop point that had to be invisible.

The Process

Drawing. I started in Illustrator, drawing each piece with the pen tool from reference:

• The hands of God and Adam from the Sistine Chapel ceiling
• A tower in Tehran, the capital of Iran, whose architecture I admire
• A Renaissance church with an architect sitting in front of it, drawing in his sketchbook, as if he is designing a new order of his own
• My own head, drawn as a skull

The church piece appears twice, mirrored, like a reflection. My initials, KA, sit at the base.

How I work. I didn't begin with a fixed meaning. I chose images that pulled at me and trusted them to connect. For me, meaning usually arrives after the work is finished, when I look at it and something less rational and more spiritual comes through. This project worked exactly that way.

Execution. In After Effects, I made each drawing its own 3D layer and spaced them along the Z-axis. Then I animated a camera to orbit the stack. From the front, the layers line up inside the triangle as one composition. From the side, you see they are separate sheets floating in space. Each layer has its own colour so the eye can follow it as it moves.

The Solution

When I looked at the finished piece, I saw what had connected the images: they are all about creating. God creates man. Man builds towers and churches. The architect sketches a new man-made order. And at the bottom, my skull and my initials: I am the one drawing all of them. Every maker in the piece is also being made by someone else.

The camera tells the same story. From the front, everything looks like one solid, sacred order. Move a little to the side, and you see it was always separate layers, put together by a hand.

Reflection & Learning

Skills I strengthened: pen-tool illustration, preparing artwork for 3D, Z-space, and camera animation.

What I'd do differently: I'd use fewer layers. When everything lines up, the colours pile on top of each other and the centre gets hard to read. I'd also use the lights the brief asked for, and depth of field, so the depth shows even in a still frame and not only when the camera moves.

What I learned about myself: I don't always know what my work means while I'm making it. I've learned to trust that, and to look again when it's finished. The work often knows before I do.