Friends for six years, Cameron Reed draws the comics and Jake Vaughan helps with ideas, dialog, and marketing. These two make quite the team, and a funny one at that.
Placing third for the 2014 Oregon Newspaper Publisher Association's Best Cartooning for college papers, Reed and Vaughan are accomplished teens. Not only are they weekly artists for The Commuter but they are regulars in the Lebenon Express.
Reed has been creating various characters since 5th grade but when he teamed up with Vaughan in High School it was Vaughan who got them the gig with the Lebenon Express. The Commuter came second.
"[Lebenon Express] keeps us on a tight rope there. It's basically politics about Lebenon," said Vaughan.
"We use [The Commuter] for our funny ones," said Reed.
They're first creative venture together was a band that included Vaughan's brother Adam.
"If we could play it we'd call it a song," joked Vaughan. "We used to be known as the guys with the band, now we're the cartoonists."
Their inspiration comes from every day situations such as a cougar sighting in Lebenon that got Reed thinking about the other kind of cougar, older ladies. Thus a recent strip featured a punch line incorporating the idea.
"I work in the food industry and there's some funny stuff that happens there," said Reed.
Both are fans of "Family Guy" and "South Park." Reed enjoys The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbs.
They credit each other for inspiration in their comic strip Adventures of R.J. and James.
"We use eachother to look at the joke and give us a bigger range of humer. It's fun for us, we hang out and talk," said Reed.
Reed graduated from Lebenon High last year while he was duel enrolled and LBCC. He plans on continuing in the graphic design program. His hope is to design products for a large company.
Vaughan is a sophmore at Lebenon High but plans on continuing his education at LBCC after graduation. He is undecided what he wants to pursue.
"I'm still working on a band," he joked.
Their success in the Lebenon Express and The Commuter have brought them a small dose of hometown fame.
"We get feedback all the time at my school. Since they're political the teachers say something," said Vaughan.
"I've gotten feedback from people at work. 'You're the guy that does cartoons' they'll say," said Reed.
The duo plans on expanding their readership to other local papers this summer. The New Era in Sweet Home and the Albany Democrat-Herald are next on the list.
The works of Reed and Vaughan can be found on their Facebook for R.J. and James Cartoons or on The Commuter comics online.
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