The GoComics "Meet Your Creator" series brings you firsthand insight into the lives and careers of your favorite cartoonists. Each week, we hand over the keys to one of our talented creators, who share their inspirations, achievements, creative processes, studios and more! Read on to hear from this week's featured cartoonist: Chris Grine of Wicked Crispy.

"Wicked Crispy is just weird and gross"..."

The short response to this is, "I know," but that was kinda my intention.

The longer version may hold some actual answers for anyone who might be interested "...

First, a little about myself and my background. Like most artists, I've spent pretty much my entire life drawing or being creative in some capacity. My art always drifted toward the humorous and strange side of things as far back as I can remember. Being a child of the '80s, my biggest influences were people like Jim Henson and George Lucas, and anybody who could make me laugh. I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons, where I became a huge fan of Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Looney Tunes (when it was great) and countless others. That eventually led to an interest in comics and illustration, which in turn led me to the Kansas City Art Institute, where I received a formal education before completing my Illustration degree at Ringling School of Art & Design.

Post-college, I was hired into the warm embrace of Hallmark Cards, where I was lucky enough to continue my education, surrounded by some of the funniest, most talented artists and writers I will ever meet. I worked primarily in the humor studio, where I learned the "rules" of what was and was not appropriate for the general audience. Often my idea of what was funny was considered to be too "edgy," but that was OK - sometimes boundaries are good things.

Bet you didn't know I was the official artist for Maxine for the last three years.

About that same time, I decided to toss my hat into the comics world to see if I had what it took to be a successful storyteller with my own characters and ideas. My first published book was called "Chickenhare," and it was relatively successful, going on to be nominated for an Eisner Award in 2007 for Best Publication for a Younger Audience. You see, I was playing to what I was learning at Hallmark and in doing so I created a story for the whole family. "Chickenhare" is an all-ages story that was originally published in 2006, along with a sequel in 2008, both books in black and white. Later, in 2012, it was picked up and reprinted by Scholastic in full color. Scholastic!

Anyway, that led to several other things, mostly all-ages types of stories including a new book I'm currently working on right now.

Then, in June of this year (2015), Hallmark decided my time had come, and in the most recent round of layoffs, I was shown the door. It put me in a weird place to be sure. What I realized, however, is that I had spent almost 15 years doing other people's artwork, following others' ideas of what humor is, and generally being very safe about it all, which is EXACTLY where Wicked Crispy comes from.

You may not like Wicked Crispy. Even its fans think it's gross, but they enjoy that, I guess. Wicked Crispy was my answer to what I was going through in June. Knowing I had several comic book projects in the works already, I decided to do something just for me, just to make ME laugh. I barely even promoted it because I realized it was gross, weird, and most likely not really for a mainstream audience, but like I said, I was doing it for me.

Webcomics are free to produce, and you don't need anybody's approval. You just do it.

And so I just started making and posting it in July. It was like my therapy, a place where I could just do whatever I wanted. And I love it.

Recently, as you may know, I was invited to join the GoComics family with Wicked Crispy. My first reaction when I was approached was, "Really? You want Wicked Crispy on GoComics? It's kinda gross." But we worked out a few things and for better or worse, here it is.

I hope you give it a chance, just don't go in expecting a heart-felt, all-ages, coming of age story, because that isn't what it's about. Read Wicked Crispy because you secretly like poop jokes, and things you want to un-see but can't. Read it for some '80s Saturday morning nostalgia mixed with lots of NSFW situations. I promise there will never be any offensive language or sexual situations, just a lot of gross humor, awful nudity and, hopefully, some uncomfortable laughing from you.

Sincerely,

Chris

Read Wicked Crispy here. And, follow Chris on Twitter and Instagram! Don't forget to visit the Wicked Crispy website.