Brian Crane was born in Twin Falls, Idaho, in 1949 and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area. He attended Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, and California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, California, then graduated with a B.A. in Art from Brigham Young University in 1972. After graduation, Crane worked as a graphic designer, illustrator, and art director at several newspapers, magazines, and advertising agencies.

In 1989 he created a newspaper comic strip, “Pickles,” which revolves around an elderly couple, Earl and Opal Pickles, and their daughter, grandson, and pets. In 1990 “Pickles” was accepted for syndication by the Washington Post Writers Group. Since then it has received many awards, including Best Newspaper Comic Strip in 2001 and 2019 by the National Cartoonists Society. In 2012 Crane received the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year. In 2014 Crane received the Inkpot Award for Achievement in Comic Arts by Comic-Con International. In addition, "Pickles" repeatedly has topped newspaper comics polls across the nation and appears in over 900 newspapers around the world. It is also in the top 10 comics published digitally daily on the GoComics.com website. In 2022, syndication for "Pickles" was taken over by Andrews McMeel Syndication. Also in 2022, Crane was elected to the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

Crane's proudest achievement, however, is his 50-year marriage to his wife, Diana, and their seven children and 21 grandchildren.