Zach Woolsey and his wife appear with country music artist Shania Twain. Image courtesy of Zach Woolsey
LOGAN – Growing up in Logan, even as young as seven, Zach Woolsey’s focus in life was to stay busy drawing.
Now, 40 years later living in the Boise area, he is an illustrator, designer and graphic artist with a national profile. He is prominent in the worlds of hip hop, rap and Marvel comics, and more.
In 2017 he provided some art pieces to be auctioned at Shania Twain’s Kid’s Foundation in Canada and it earned him an invitation to her concert in Salt Lake City where he met the artist.
“She is a really sweet lady. It was super fun to meet with her,” Woolsey explains. “After the opening act she asked us to walk with her to the stage. So, we did that, she went up on stage and we went to the seats she provided for us. As she came out to open the show she waved at us. It was fun.”
Not to drop names, but he continues to do work — including album cover illustrations and other art — for Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, TechN9ne and several other artists. He admits most of his art is a bit on the dark side.
“For whatever reason, I guess I have a tendency to travel that way,” Woolsey says. “People seem to enjoy that and it’s brought a lot of good opportunities for me, whether it’s been either cards or books or merchandise or anything like that.”
Since 2018 he has provided sketch art for Topps cards.
“There’s a lot of wonderful card sets coming out, like Star Wars Masterworks Series,” says Woolsey. “We’ve done a lot with the Mandalorian which I love, too. I’ve gotten really good at drawing storm troopers; I can pretty much do them any time anywhere.”
He is proud of his 15 X 10 foot mural in downtown Boise — “Breaking Boise” — which is an homage to the television series “Breaking Bad.” He was asked to create in an area called the Freak Alley Galley.
Aaron Paul, one of the stars of Breaking Bad, is a native of the Boise area.
“Last year Aaron was in town on business and he brought Brian Cranston with him,” explains Woolsey. “And it was funny while Brian was here he actually autographed the mural, signing on his nose right across the painting.”
Zach is the son of Janet and Steven Woolsey. After Logan High he sought further art training in Minnesota before earning a degree at Boise State.
His work can be found online at magicartwerx.com.