Get Ready to Drool: Meet Catherine Nester, Resident Cool Kid
Sophomore Catherine Nester has always been really creative, and that’s not even the coolest thing about her.
It all started back around the time she was 16 years old (about 5 years ago) when she began to notice calligraphy videos spiffing up her Instagram feed. Ahh... the age of social media.
Naturally, when you see something popular on Instagram, you want to try it to. Right? Right. Sso, she began to try it for herself.
After watching countless videos, she started to pick up the “basic technique,” she said. (All self-taught, of course, because that’s just the kind of girl she is.)
Her style, as she describes it, is “a little different from the traditional script cursive. It incorporates more loops, and it’s more of a combination of normal handwriting and cursive.”
Although she wasn’t necessarily getting the swing of things right off the bat, she kept at it.
“I would just watch TV and hear words that they would say on TV and just practice writing that word,” she said.
Nester claims that, not only was this a creative outlet for her, but also a way to deal with her “fidgety” self, as she said.
This activity turned into more than just a way to keep her hands busy, though. In fact, Nester has gone on to do some incredible things with her Instagram-found hobby.
The first thing being: choosing Elon.
Nester was always intrigued by Elon’s communications program, which allowed students the opportunity to “explore the visual side of communications and combine art and message,” she said.
Nester came in with an open mind and even considered a major in Cinema and Television. But, something kept drawing her back to her passion for her doodles.
“I would always find myself, at the end of the day, doodling,” she said. “I knew I wanted a major that would fit with things I was already practicing.”
Alas, she chose to major in Communications Design. What a perfect that decision was.
Nester has since worked as a graphic designer and social media manager for a local photography studio back home in Maryland, where she used her fancy-schmancy hand lettering to create promotional, (and of course) post-worthy material.
She’s also single-handedly decorated her freshman dorm room with frames of her favorite quotes, all of which she wrote and drew out with her Apple pencil and iPad.
Oh yeah, she has also worked weddings, but you probably already guessed that. Dessert table signs, personalized bridesmaids’ dress hangers, drink menus only describe some of it.
If you ask her, Nester will tell you that the most flattering project she’s been able to incorporate her hand-lettering on has been designing tattoos. Yep, you read that correctly. Tattoos. And not just one tattoo, but three.
“I’ve been able to write out a few tattoos for people, which is crazy because they like my handwriting so much they want it on them forever,” she said.
But the thing she loves most of all is being able to share her lettering and designs with
others, whether that’s through hand-made birthday cards or self-designed notebook stickers.
“I feel like I can use it to share words that mean a lot to me and communicate ideas in a way that’s really cool to look at.”
P.S.- feel free to drool over the pictures attached! She’s seriously THAT good.
