María José Garrido Castells

María José is a Visual Artist born in Quito, Ecuador in 1994 currently based in Barcelona, Spain.
From an early age she was drawn by art, design and creativity. This led her to obtain her degree in Animation at Universidad San Francisco de Quito and later a master degree in Video Games at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and another one in Illustration and Animation at Esdesign.

Growing up in a creative household has made her passionate about art and illustration. Her mother and grandfather´s work have been an inspiration for her to become an artist.
A few years ago she discovered education and academics and she´s currently, not only a Visual Artist, but also an Academic Coordinator for creative undergraduate programs in a design university.

Besides her profession, she also loves spending time drawing and painting for herself, reading, travelling and playing video games and table games.

She strongly believes that art and education should be accessible for all, and this is what led her to Arcadia.
For the future, she hopes to continue developing her creative skills and growing both professionally and personally.

Her specialty areas are:
· Illustration
· Animation
· Design
· Storytelling
· Communication Skills