It’s Me, Lisa!
Aka Nola.
I know there are many folks out there who think my name is Nola thanks to my Instagram handle, but no, I am Lisa (which isn’t even my official name. What!)
So where did NOLA come from? It is actually the acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana, which was where I was living when I first started my IG account. It’s stuck so well that I can’t imagine myself being anything else.
A Little History
I first found lettering over four years ago thanks to my Instagram addiction. I saw so many creative and beautiful lettering pieces, particularly calligraphy-based ones, that I decided I wanted to learn to create my own.
But even before this, I was one of those perpetual doodlers, especially when I was still in school. I loved drawing bubble letters and those funky S’s that were around everywhere in the 90’s in my class notes (yes, this was before laptops were ubiquitous. I am old.) I graduated to abstract doodles, zentangle, and mandalas before coming back to creating art with words.
I’ve been lettering for over 3 years now, starting with some broad pen action, then moving on to pointed pen and brush calligraphy, and now to what I’ve been doing for the last two years, which is combining all sorts of lettering styles into a cohesive lettering composition.
Present Day
When I first started teaching myself to letter, I didn’t have a particular goal in mind. I was purely focused on exploring the craft and improving bit by bit.
One day it hit me, I had finally found my passion.
I could letter for hours each day every day and not get bored. I lettered during lectures, I lettered while watching shows, I even found myself lettering late into the night. This was useful when I set a goal for myself to letter one piece a day and post it on Instagram for at least a year. It lasted two years. You could say, I was addicted.
Prior to discovering lettering, I was stumbling my way through life not really knowing what I wanted to do or if I even had passion for anything (aside from family and friends).
Lettering not only allowed me to have a creative outlet, which was something I always needed for my mental health, but it also helped me gain self-confidence, a sense of purpose, and a community that has supported me throughout my journey (love you guys!).
My Goal
With all that said, my goal now is to help others ignite and explore their passion for lettering through entertainment and education.
I produce lettering compositions of sarcastic quotes to bring a little levity to our very serious lives. And to put into words thoughts that many of us have but are maybe not comfortable actually saying out loud. At the same time, I leverage these pieces to create lettering and composition tutorials via online lettering courses, blog posts, and IG posts.
And! I’ve got big plans in the works to further my educating goal, so stay tuned.
Thanks so much for being part of my lettering journey!
Find Me
Hit Me Up
One of my greatest joys is talking to folks about lettering, so please don’t hesitate to reach out to me either through my contact form, e-mail, or my various social media accounts about your struggles and questions you have in your lettering journey (or anything really).
I look forward to hearing from you!