Born in Washington DC in 1889, Godwin was the son of the city editor of The Washington Star. Self-taught, he began his career as an apprentice on that newspaper. A stint at the Art Students League brought him in contact with James Montgomery Flagg and, by 1908, his work began to appear in humor magazines of the day. By 1920, his pen work could be found in advertisements as well. By 1925 he was doing painted covers for magazines like Liberty.
In 1921, publisher David McKay commissioned him to illustrate an edition of The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. With color and sumptuous pen and ink plates, Godwin demonstrated a broad talent and a wide range of influences. Also from McKay during this period were editions of Robin Hood and The Black Arrow (1923) - both featuring wonderful suites of color plates that announced Godwin as one of the premier adventure illustrators of the day.
John C. Winston, the book publisher, started a series of classic adventure stories. Godwin was selected to provide both painted and penned illustrations for several of them. In 1924, he worked on Tales from Shakespeare and Treasure Island. 1925 brought Kidnapped and Robinson Crusoe. In 1927 he developed a new outlet for his drawings, the newspaper strip, Connie. Also in 1927, he provided illustrations for Winston's King Arthur and his Knights and The Ten Dreams of Zach Peters (also known as The Road to Liberty). Two more Winston titles followed in 1929, The Swiss Family Robinson and The Book of Courage.
Done primarily with a brush, and with 40 years of experience behind him, Godwin's art overcame the tepid scripts he was given and populated the space with lush foliage, recognizable characters, realistic animals and a strong sense of place and time. Godwin died just a few weeks laterin 1959. He was one of the last survivors of that turn-of-the-century breed of artists who could perform miracles with a brush and ink.
(source: http://www.bpib.com/illustrat/godwin.htm)