About SquashnStretch.net
Boutique Animation Mentorship Since 2011
Direct access to Filippo Dattola — a Lead Animator with over a decade of feature-film production experience. Focused, 1-on-1 mentorship built around real production standards and your individual growth.
Who We Are
SquashnStretch started in 2011 with a simple idea: train animators the way professionals grow inside real studios. What began as one mentor and a handful of students has become a structured 10-phase mentorship path — with animators now working at Framestore, MPC, ILM, DNEG, and Disney.
Our Mission
Give serious animators direct, undivided access to a professional who works at the highest level of the industry. Every session is tailored to your level, your weaknesses, your demo reel — built entirely around closing the gap between where you are and where studios need you to be.
What We Do
Character and creature animation mentorship, from fundamentals to advanced production techniques. Demo reel development built to international studio standards. Career strategy, studio preparation, and lifetime access to over 500 hours of recorded resources, tutorials, and webinars.
How the Mentorship Works
At SquashnStretch, you sit across from your mentor — a Lead Animator with real feature-film experience — twice a week, every week. Every correction is specific to your shot. Every suggestion is based on how decisions are made inside actual productions. The goal is to develop your eye, your judgment, and your ability to perform under real studio expectations.
Tools evolve. Taste and judgment don’t. That is what this mentorship trains.
Choosing the right animation mentorship is one of the most important decisions in your entire animation career. At SquashnStretch.net, we are committed to giving you the professional training, the personalized mentorship, and the competitive demo reel you need to compete at the highest level in the global animation and visual effects industry.
Assessment
We evaluate your current level and define clear, honest goals for your mentorship.
Planning
Together we choose the right phase and build a training plan around your strengths and weaknesses.
Live Sessions
Twice-weekly 1-on-1 sessions with your mentor, all recorded for review.
Feedback
Direct, shot-by-shot feedback focused on performance, timing, weight, and production polish
Reel Building
Every phase produces portfolio-ready shots built to international studio standards
Career Ready
By the end of your path, your reel competes at the level studios expect
Why Animators Choose SquashnStretch.net
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Direct Access — Every session is with a Lead Animator with over a decade of feature-film experience.
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True 1-on-1 — Every session is exclusively yours. Your work, your feedback, your pace.
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Production Standards — Training modelled on how real studios develop shots, from blocking to final polish.
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Proven Results — Graduates now working at Framestore, MPC, DNEG, Disney, and more.
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Lifetime Resources — 500+ hours of videos, tutorials, and webinars, forever yours.
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Independent Pricing — Studio-level mentorship at a fraction of what large programs charge.
Some Numbers
about out training program
300+
Animators Mentored
10
Mentorship Phases
18
Years of Professional Experience
500+
Hours of Resources
What You Will Learn
The mentorship curriculum is designed around the skills that top studios actually evaluate when hiring animators.
The character animation track starts with animation fundamentals — timing, spacing, squash and stretch, and the 12 principles of animation. From there, you progress into body mechanics, learning how to create believable walks, runs, and physical actions. As you advance, you move into acting and lip sync, full body acting, and multi-character scenes, developing the performance skills that separate demo reels from the competition.
The creature animation track covers animal locomotion, advanced quadruped mechanics, flight and fight action sequences, and dinosaur animation. This track is designed for animators who want to specialize in VFX creature work for major productions.
Every shot you produce is built to demo reel standard. Your mentor reviews each shot with you in real time, providing detailed feedback on posing, timing, weight, performance, and polish. By the end of your path, you walk away with a professional demo reel built to compete at studios like Framestore, MPC, ILM, DNEG, and Disney — where many of our animators now work.
Meet Our Leadership
Every mentorship session is led directly by Filippo Dattola — your mentor from day one to demo reel, bringing real production experience into every single review.
Desirée Meduri
Founder, Animator, Actor
Filippo Dattola
Founder, Animator, Mentor
Ready to Train at Feature-Film Standards?
Apply for mentorship or contact us to discuss which phase is right for your level.