从满帆毕业后 电脑动画 2009年， 托尼•里昂 has held compositing jobs at a dozen companies all over the world. His work spans the realm of film 和 television, including 复仇者联盟，星际迷航:超越星辰，童话镇，以及各种品牌的商业活动，如 可口可乐 和 旧香料. 他还认为 合成的导师, a website offering free tutorials for those interested in learning more about the fundamentals of compositing.

That’s a lot to pack into just a h和ful of post-graduate years, 和 Tony will be the first to tell you his success is actually the result of decades of hard work — 和 a goal-setting strategy that is constantly evolving alongside his talent.

“I started drawing stop motion comics when I was in middle school,” he says. “从那里，我自学了Photoshop和After Effects.”

当他还是个初中生的时候, 托尼把他的努力转向了遥远的银河系, 远方:他拍了一部25分钟长的电影 星球大战 粉丝电影.

“It was mostly to push myself to see how cool I could make something look on my own. There were a lot of fight scenes, cutting people in half, things like that.”

这个项目花了他整整一年的时间才完成, 和 when it was finished his principal screened it for the school. 托尼回忆起许多年前坐在礼堂里的情景. He remembers the energy of the crowd, people whispering, ‘How’d he do that?’ as his characters shot lasers out of blasters 和 waged light saber battles.

“At the time, I didn’t even know there was a name for what I was doing. 我查了一下，发现它叫做合成. That was the moment when I decided I was going to do this for the rest of my life.”

托尼毕业后就进入了满帆. 如果他高中的目标是尝试新事物, then his goal in university was to learn as much about the industry as possible.

他说:“速成项目可不是开玩笑的。. “But it gave me the ability to pick up the fundamentals of any program fairly quickly, 并迅速调整我的工作.”

His time at 满帆 also gave him a solid network of peers, including fellow 电脑动画 grads Rob Price 和 Chase Bickle. As their time in the program came to an end, the three made the move to Los Angeles. For a while, they kept getting hired on to contract gigs together.

“这很有趣，我们就像一个一揽子交易，”托尼笑着说.

最终，托尼被聘为Roto/Paint 艺术ist 亮度图片在那里，他从事的项目包括 托尔 和 大地惊雷. 这并不是真正的合成, but Tony knew the experience was a valuable step in achieving his ultimate goal.

“A lot of people graduate 和 want to get right to work on the biggest, baddest thing. But you can’t underestimate the benefits of junior-level work like roto 和 paint, 或者匹配移动和身体追踪. No one is going to take you seriously if you don’t underst和 the fundamentals. There’s not much glory in it, but putting in that time will help you tremendously in the future.”

托尼在Luma全职工作了近两年, 和 while he learned a lot in that time he eventually got restless. 他给自己定了一个新目标:他想去看看这个世界. 伦敦 was especially appealing, due to its proximity to the rest of Europe. If he could gain fresh experience in the process, all the better.

“In my opinion, the quickest way to move up in the industry is to move over,” he says.

Armed with experience, he started applying for contract jobs with the aim of bulking up his resume. 没有任何地方是禁区. 在接下来的几年里，他在美国的一家公司做过短期工作 美国，加拿大，中国，最终， 伦敦他安定下来在那里工作 双重否定，公司背后的影响 饥饿游戏:嘲笑鸟 和 《美国队长3:内战.

“The visual effects industry has changed a lot in recent years. When I started, there were a lot more companies based in Los Angeles. 大约在那个时候, other countries like Canada 和 the UK started offering massive tax breaks 和 incentives for companies looking to relocate. Now, depending on what you want to do, there are still opportunities in L.A.但大多数行业已经全球化了.”

话虽如此, the companies I’ve worked for are happy to bring you overseas if you’re talented 和 willing,他继续说道。. “I don’t think there’s any lack of opportunity if you can prove that you’re good, 和 companies are always seeking good workers even at the junior level.”

托尼在他的团队中也做得很好，多去旅行了. In the last year 和 a half, he’s visited more than 25 countries on weekend trips. Never one to settle, he recently relocated yet again, this time to 新加坡 为之工作 工业光 & 魔法. It’s a new goal, one he’ll take inserted like everything else. 然而，这并不是终点.

“I think I’d be missing out if I stayed in one place too long,” says Tony. “世界是一个迷人的地方. 有很多东西要看，也有很多东西要学. 为什么不多学一点，多看看呢?”