Zach Johnsen, an American of Italian, Norwegian, and Czech descent, was born in 1978 in the north woods of New Hampshire. He says this of his upbringing:

"My two brothers and I grew up surrounded by wilderness. We made the woods our playground. When we weren't playing outside, we were drawing. We created this world of badly drawn characters that would fight each other in battles — all types of crazy war characters and an assortment of animals strapped with guns. I remember using almost exclusively black pens, with red marker for blood."

Now living in Brooklyn, Johnsen claims that not much about his aesthetic approach has changed. "I still use almost exclusively black pens and variations of red paint. I love line work, and often feel that a single line can communicate more than an entire mural. Meanwhile, I'm trying to make the most of my time here on this earth."