Early Life and Education

Maru Godàs was born in Barcelona in 1966. She studied graphic design at the IDEP School of Design and the Escola Superior de Disseny Llotja de Barcelona. After completing her education, she founded her own graphic design studio in Barcelona, offering services to various publishers and agencies in Spain, including RBA, Planeta, National Geographic, and Salvat. Additionally, she took several animation, comic, and illustration courses at Escola Joso in Barcelona.

Transition to Full-Time Illustration

Maru always had a passion for illustration, consistently working on illustration projects and painting with oils and gouache in her spare time. Her passion eventually led her to pursue illustration full-time. Her involvement with the Urban Sketchers community opened new opportunities for travel, workshops, and lectures worldwide, as well as connections with amazing people.

Artistic Techniques and Collaborations

Maru enjoys working with various techniques, including Chinese ink, oil, watercolor, and colored pencils. However, she is particularly known for her gouache and acrylic paint drawings and workshops. She has collaborated on several illustrated books and magazines and authored works such as "Park Güell Journey," the interactive digital book "Suri y yo," and "Organic Beauty," which has been translated into five languages. Her illustration commissions include work for CaixaForum, National Geographic, RACC, La Caixa, the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, and La Vanguardia.

Leadership and Workshops

From 2019 to 2022, Maru served as the director of the illustration festival "Compostela Ilustrada" in Spain. She has conducted international workshops in cities like Chicago, Brighton, Palo Alto, Madrid, Porto, Lisbon, Tuscany, Bern, San Francisco, Málaga, New York, Santiago de Compostela, La Réunion Island, New Zealand, and Tel Aviv. She has also taught at Urban Sketching Symposiums in Chicago, Porto, and Auckland. Currently, she is a board member of the Centre Artistic de Sant Lluc, a century-old art institution in Barcelona. She balances professional illustration commissions, authorship projects for books, and teaching activities, including urban sketching workshops and illustration classes around the world.