Brian Crane is an American cartoonist who created Pickles, a comic strip featuring a retired couple, Earl and Opal Pickles, their family, and their family pets, Muffin (cat) and Roscoe (dog). Born in Twin Falls, Idaho, Crane grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He began drawing at an early age, according to accounts by his mother, and hoped to grow up to be a comic strip artist. Crane served a mission in Uruguay and graduated with a BA degree from Brigham Young University in 1973. As he got older he didn't think he had the writing talent or sense of humor to be able to come up with material for a daily comic strip, so he became a graphic designer and art director, working for publishing companies, art studios and advertising agencies. When he got near the age of forty he began reminiscing about his childhood dream of doing a newspaper comic strip, so he created Pickles, a strip about an elderly couple, their daughter, their grandson, and their pets.