Out of all the Spanish Animators that I have come across, most of them seemed to like to like to travel quite a lot, but also keep to themselves at the same time. However, some seem to be quite involved in working with other companies near by such as the studios in Barcelona often combine work efforts with studios in Valencia or other studios in France.
Some of the studios in Barcelona sometimes work outside of the country when working on bigger films such as the missing lynx, when they have assisant animators from the states, they tend to travel a bit, or when theres work to be done for a game design project.
Otherwise, from what I can tell, Spanish animators like to stick to themselves, at least the smaller business usually just work with other studios close by, however often not quite by choice.
I think it quite quite a nice way to work though, having a bit of both. I personally wouldn't want to be in the same place all the time, it can easily get a little dull, but on the other hand travelling around all the time can also be more hassle than its worth so I think the Spanish are doing it just right. Working with new people can be good for the project because there are more influences and there will also be more variety. If the same people always work together the work can easily become the same each time, but if there are new people from to time, the idea development will be a little more mixed up and will therefore be more interesting for everyone in the long run.
Studios in Barcelona, (all of which are a little more bigger and successful some others in the country) do however try to work with as many other studios as possible, preferrrably with studios from the United States (for obvious) but are not always quite so welcome as they'd like to be, which is a shame for them and future audiences.
On the other hand maybe it is not so bad if the bigger Spanish studios don't get to work with studios from the States as it sort of takes away the charm of Spanish animation. It is known to be quuite unique and when those two come together, most of the time, only one side 'wins' so to speak. The character design end up looking a little too polished and familiar and completely lose their charm in my eyes. It becomes to flashy and overly modern, similar to other projects even. At some point everything will come close to looking similar other designs, but I think when you compare them, you can easily spot similarities. For example, the little charmeleon from the missing lynx (released date planned for 2012) and the one in Rango (released in 2010) look awfully similar and are even voice by the same voice actor... So when something so precious suddenly becomes mainstream its a sometimes a little sad to see what happens to it.
Some of the studios in Barcelona sometimes work outside of the country when working on bigger films such as the missing lynx, when they have assisant animators from the states, they tend to travel a bit, or when theres work to be done for a game design project.
Otherwise, from what I can tell, Spanish animators like to stick to themselves, at least the smaller business usually just work with other studios close by, however often not quite by choice.
I think it quite quite a nice way to work though, having a bit of both. I personally wouldn't want to be in the same place all the time, it can easily get a little dull, but on the other hand travelling around all the time can also be more hassle than its worth so I think the Spanish are doing it just right. Working with new people can be good for the project because there are more influences and there will also be more variety. If the same people always work together the work can easily become the same each time, but if there are new people from to time, the idea development will be a little more mixed up and will therefore be more interesting for everyone in the long run.
Studios in Barcelona, (all of which are a little more bigger and successful some others in the country) do however try to work with as many other studios as possible, preferrrably with studios from the United States (for obvious) but are not always quite so welcome as they'd like to be, which is a shame for them and future audiences.
On the other hand maybe it is not so bad if the bigger Spanish studios don't get to work with studios from the States as it sort of takes away the charm of Spanish animation. It is known to be quuite unique and when those two come together, most of the time, only one side 'wins' so to speak. The character design end up looking a little too polished and familiar and completely lose their charm in my eyes. It becomes to flashy and overly modern, similar to other projects even. At some point everything will come close to looking similar other designs, but I think when you compare them, you can easily spot similarities. For example, the little charmeleon from the missing lynx (released date planned for 2012) and the one in Rango (released in 2010) look awfully similar and are even voice by the same voice actor... So when something so precious suddenly becomes mainstream its a sometimes a little sad to see what happens to it.