The SPA Studios

The SPA Studios is an independent animation studio based in the Madrid metropolitan area of Spain. Founded in 2004 by Sergio Pablos and Marisa Román, it combines traditional hand-drawn animation with digital production techniques, developing original feature projects alongside production and pre-production work for other entertainment companies.

Its capabilities span character design, visual development, storyboarding, traditional 2D key animation and clean-up, as well as hybrid digital lighting and compositing. This range supports work from early story concepts and visual exploration through feature-film production. The studio serves theatrical film, streaming and television markets, with an emphasis on character animation and original storytelling.

From visual development to original features

The company built its service business through pre-production and development work for companies including Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation and Blue Sky Studios. Its work encompasses original concepts, character design and story development as well as animation production.

Its portfolio includes Despicable Me, whose original story concept was conceived by Pablos, who also served as executive producer. Smallfoot grew from his unpublished story Yeti Tracks. The studio's contributions to these productions included visual development and storyboarding, while its work on Rio included character design, storyboarding and visual development.

Klaus marked a major step into original feature production in 2019. Produced by the studio and distributed by Netflix as its first original animated feature, the film was written and directed by Pablos and produced by Román. Its hand-drawn characters were enhanced through proprietary digital lighting and volumetric shading, giving traditional animation a distinctive sense of depth.

The studio continues to develop Ember, an original hand-drawn prehistoric feature created, written and directed by Pablos. It has also been selected to provide traditional animation services for Disney+'s hybrid series Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, extending its work across original features and commissioned productions.