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Group Mentorship

Group Mentorship.

A collaborative, career-focused program for motivated CG and VFX artists who want real growth on a budget.
Learn in a cohort, build your reel, and push each other forward,
guided by a working VFX and CG Supervisor with 20+ years at studios like DNEG, MPC, Mill Film, Framestore, and Pixomondo.

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Who you will be working with

Cristian Spagnuolo, VFX and CG Supervisor. Over 20 years supervising on real productions, and still working on them.

Autodesk Certified Professional, Maya and 3ds Max Autodesk Approved Instructor
Studios I have worked at, among others
DNEG MPC Framestore Mill Film Pixomondo L'Atelier Animation Mels Studios Mokko Studio
Partners on my production work
Reallusion Faceform 3D.sk Volinga XGrids Dash

Partners on my production work. Not sponsors of this program.

Why group

Not a class to sit throughA room that pushes your craft up.

This is for motivated CG and VFX artists who want serious growth without a one-to-one price tag.
The 1-to-1 program is you and me, fully bespoke to your goals.
The group program puts you in a small cohort, learning alongside peers, refining reels together, with a healthy sense of competition that pushes everyone.
No prior experience needed, and the work is tailored to your starting level.

Affordable does not mean watered down.
You get the same standard and the same direct feedback, in a room with other serious artists.

How the group works

Start alone with your reelFinish with a room behind you.

Five honest steps.
The real process of the cohort program, from the first call to a reel built alongside other serious artists.

01

Preliminary call

Same honest assessment as the 1-to-1, a free call to understand your level and your goals. Here we also confirm together that the group format is the right fit for you.

02

Join the cohort

You join a small group moving through the full pipeline together. The path is shared, but it is tailored to the level of the room, so nobody is left behind and nobody is bored.

03

Weekly live sessions

Three hours a week, live, held to the same production standard as the 1-to-1. You learn alongside other serious artists who are as committed as you are.

04

Team momentum

You still get real feedback, but the cohort is the engine. Watching other artists solve problems and push their work forward pushes you too. Healthy competition raises the whole room.

05

You produce work and a reel

You finish with real projects behind you, studio-level habits, and reel-ready material built over the run of the program.

The program

How the group program runs.

A structured path through the full pipeline, from fundamentals to a finished shot, with AI woven in throughout.
Every cohort is tailored to the room’s starting level.

01

Intro & Fundamentals

  • VFX vs SFX vs CGI, and the CG pipeline
  • Industry applications and key milestones
  • The different roles in a studio
  • OpenColorIO, ACEScg and linear workflow
  • On-set data capture (HDRI, ref ball and chart, lidar)
  • Intro to the core software (Maya, Blender, Nuke)
Intro and Fundamentals
02

Fundamentals of 3D Modelling

  • Intro to Maya and the interface
  • Polygons, vertices, edges and faces
  • Meshes, topology, polygon vs NURBS
  • Basic modelling techniques
  • UV mapping basics
  • Build a simple 3D object
Fundamentals of 3D Modelling
03

Texturing, Shading & Lookdev

  • Intro to the PBR workflow
  • Types of textures and maps
  • Substance Painter introduction
  • Material vs Smart Material
  • Node-based shading in Maya
  • Procedural shading
Texturing, Shading and Lookdev
04

Lighting & Rendering in Maya

  • Rendering engines (Arnold, V-Ray, RenderMan, Redshift)
  • Types of lights and their properties
  • HDRI dome light and turntable setup
  • Render settings and optimization
  • Render layers and AOVs
Lighting and Rendering in Maya
05

Animation Basics

  • Intro to animation and rigging
  • Keyframes and timelines
  • Core principles (squash, stretch, timing)
  • Camera animation
  • Animation layers
  • A simple scene animation
Animation Basics
06

Introduction to CFX & FX

  • Software intro (Maya, Houdini, Marvelous, Embergen)
  • CFX vs FX, and where each is used
  • CFX simulations (hair, cloth, muscles)
  • FX simulations (particles, fluids)
  • Rigid body simulation
Introduction to CFX and FX
07

Compositing & Post-Production

  • Nuke vs After Effects, node-based comp
  • Merge operations and blending modes
  • Keying and masking
  • Rebuild a CG shot from its AOVs
  • Color correction, grading, lens effects
Compositing and Post-Production
08

Final Project & Review

  • Full workflow: model, texture, animate, light, render
  • Apply FX and CFX
  • Compositing and final touches
  • Present your work to the cohort
  • Feedback and retakes
Final Project and Review
09

AI Across the Pipeline: What It Is Actually For

  • Generative concepting and moodboards in minutes
  • AI-assisted previs and layout blocking
  • Faster roto, cleanup, and paint
  • Upscaling, denoising, and frame recovery
  • Generative fill for set extensions and patches
  • Look-dev assists and texture variation passes
  • Comp assists that cut manual busywork
AI across the pipeline: a ComfyUI script-to-storyboard workflow
10

How AI Enhances Your Workflow, Fundamentals First

  • Where AI saves real production time
  • How to judge and reject bad output
  • Keeping the artist in control of every shot
  • Integrating AI into a real pipeline, not bolting it on
  • Reading when a shot needs the human hand
  • Knowing when NOT to use AI at all
  • Building taste that no tool can replace
Enhancing a shot inside a ComfyUI workflow
What’s included

Serious growth, without the solo price tag.

Everything in the group track is built
to move a motivated cohort from fundamentals to a hireable reel.

  • 3-hour live sessions, split between work review, technical knowledge, and practical exercises.
  • Weekly assignments, applied practice between every session.
  • Two bonus 1-hour sessions at the end, for final project and reel reviews.
  • VIP Discord community, feedback and support beyond the sessions.
  • Cohort learning, peer review and a healthy sense of competition.
  • One month of follow-up, continued assistance after the program ends.
FAQ

Group questions, answered.

The things people ask before joining a cohort.
If yours is not here, that is what the free call is for.

The group is kept small on purpose so it stays a real mentorship and not a lecture hall. Small enough that everyone is seen, large enough that the room has energy and healthy competition. We confirm the current cohort size on the free call.

Yes. You get real feedback on your work, just not the undivided one-to-one attention of the bespoke program. The trade is that you also learn from the feedback given to everyone else in the room, which teaches you more than you would expect.

The path is tailored to the level of the room, so it is built to be followable. If you slip, the weekly rhythm and the group around you help pull you back in, and there is a one-month follow-up after the program to keep you on track. Falling a little behind is normal, staying behind is what we prevent.

No prior experience is required. The group is designed to bring serious people up from the fundamentals, so beginners are welcome as long as you are willing to put the work in. What matters is commitment, not where you are starting from.

The program runs live over roughly ten weeks, with a three-hour session each week. On top of that there are two bonus one-hour reel-review sessions near the end. Exact dates and times are set per cohort, so check the free call for the current run.

Around thirty hours of live sessions across the program, plus the two bonus one-hour reel reviews at the end. That is real, live time with me and the cohort, not recordings. The weekly assignments then multiply that time through your own work.

That feeling is normal, and getting past it is part of becoming a professional. In production your work is reviewed openly every single day, so the group is a safe place to build that muscle. The room is there to push you, not to judge you, and most artists find it becomes the part they value most.

Yes. You work on real projects through the program, and the two bonus reel-review sessions at the end are focused on shaping that work into something you can actually show. You leave with material built to a real production standard.

The group shares the cost and the path across a cohort, which makes it more accessible than a fully bespoke program built for one person. You give up the undivided one-to-one attention, but you gain the momentum, feedback, and healthy competition of a room full of serious artists. Same production standard, different engine.

Yes. Plenty of artists start in the group to build their foundations and then move to 1-to-1 when they want a fully bespoke, focused push. We can talk about the right moment for that whenever you are ready.

Yes. AI is integrated into every mentorship I run, as an enhancer for a strong artist and never a shortcut around the fundamentals. We build the craft first, then bring AI in to work smarter, so you understand what is happening underneath the tools.

The group is built to be the affordable, collaborative option, but the right fit still depends on your goals, so I keep the numbers to the conversation rather than the page. Book the free call and I will give you a clear, honest picture of the cost and what you get. No pressure either way.

Every program is bespoke and tailored to your level, so there is no fixed price tag.
Book a free call and we will map the right path for you.

Last thing

Ready to grow with a cohort?

Book your free 15-minute call and let’s plan your growth.
Tell me where you are and where you want to be,
and I will tell you honestly whether the group track is the right fit.

Book a free call