Found this shadow in a room on Badwater. Looks like a pyro sitting in a chair. WTF?

nomdeweb · 2012-05-26T18:24:52.972418+00:00

As humans, we're taught to think symbolically. When you think "cat" you don't generally picture a fully rendered HD picture of a cat in your head, you picture a generalization of what a cat looks like, 2 eyes round head, pointy ears, little nose, whiskers. You might even think of a drawing of a cat, but it's not what a cat actually looks like, it's what you've seen representations of cats looking like.

This is especially apparent with people who start by learning to draw anime. Anime can be a great style to learn later on in the art career if that's what you're into, but starting out, it and other heavily stylized work can really hinder an artist's ability to correctly percieve. What you end up with is a idea of what a human is supposed to look like in your head, which is a mix of symbols ranging from realism to your prefered style (anime or whatever) and then super simplified. If you can see it in your head you're already skipping the first crucial step about drawing from life, because you're supposed to be cutting that step out entirely! Eyes to paper. When I life draw my eyes are constantly moving, mostly staying on the model and flicking to the paper. When I see newer drawers, it's the other way around, eyes mostly on the paper, flicking to the model once in a while.

Then when I go to do stylized work, I already have the muscle memory and organic knowledge of figure drawing ingrained in me, which means I have overwritten most of the symbolic hardwiring.

Even so, I've already re-learned how to draw 3 times in the last 8 years, and I expect to do it quite a few more times.

nomdeweb · 1 day

This times a million. I keep trying to explain it to people, but always get argued with. "I know what a person looks like" or "I can see it in my head." And there's resistance to learning because the person doesn't want to sound or look stupid by not knowing how to perceive correctly. You THINK you know what a human looks like, but you learn a lot when you have a human actually in front of you and you keep your eyes mostly on them and not on the page!

nomdeweb · 1 day

One of the books Ive never used myself personally, but a lot of my instructors and peers have recommended is drawing on the right side of the brain. The majority of the learning that I have done I have done on my own or through life drawing classes with excelent instructors. I'm sure there are a lot of good books out there in the same vein as Drawing on the right side of the brain that can help teach the correct meathods for looking at an object.

Part of what takes a long time to realize when drawing is that we've been trained to convert what we see into a symbol. The reason "Draw a circle, add detail, now you have a horse." Becomes problematic, is because you are looking at someone else's representation of a horse, and are trying to work off their style sheet. You are trying to take a half-formed idea in your head of what a horse looks like, and are attempting to draw a symbol of it, rather than a horse.

To draw a horse, you need to look at a horse. Or the more easily accessable: cat or dog or human. Real life will teach you everything: books and classes will teach you how to see them. Rather than trying to think "How can I convert this thing I see into lines" You need to get in the habit of creating the forms and shapes you see on paper. It actually gave me headaches in my begining life drawing classes because my teacher would come around and tell me "Don't draw the outside of the body!" And my frustrated response was "HOW DO I SHOW WHERE THE HUMAN IS THEN!?"

Don't get books that give you a formula approach to drawing. Get books that teach you how to draw from life, how to sketch, and how to study. Rendering comes later. :)

Also, and most importantly: Don't be afraid to do a bad drawing.

I'll say it again: Don't be afraid to do a bad drawing.

Be light, be fast. Artists get their confident quick strokes through practice and from being loose and by not being afraid to fuck up. If you've got a death grip on your pencil, you'll be stiff and wonky.

Also one last thing: Draw with your whole arm, not just your hand!

nomdeweb · 1 day

It's funny. I'm an artist. Most of the people I know are artists. One of the things we constantly hear is "How do you draw like that? I can't draw stick figures. You're so talented."

Or "How do you sculpt like that? I can't make cups. You're so talented."

Or a million other things involving art.

Here's the secret: We dedicated a good portion of our time effort and lives to it. I've drawn at least an hour a day for the last 8 years. When I'm really into a project, I'll sit in one spot and draw/paint for 14 hours straight with bathroom breaks and maybe a break to grab a slice of pizza.

The people I see that are naturally gifted? The ones that walk through the door drawing well from a young age, who have already developed a style by the age of 18 and are art hot shots without much work? Generally lazy as fuck. Generally (not always, but generally) they start out with an amazing head start and improve slowly, because they are already good.

Then there are the hard workers, the ones that come from the "I couldn't draw stick figures" background. These are the people that looked at cool shit and thought "You know, I really really like doing that, and fuck it, I'm going to learn how to do it." So they went out, and they started doing it. And they didn't do it for a week and then give up when their work sucked. They kept going, and kept going, and slowly, over time, built up the fundementals and skills needed to learn how to work with their materials and how to percieve the world differently.

People tell me "You're so talented. I wish I could draw like you." Then pick up a pencil, grab a decent drawing book, learn some basics, and do it. Then if you like doing it, go to a few life drawing classes at a community college. If you want to get into sculpting: do it. If you want to be artistic, just sit down and DO IT. It does not take a special person, it is a skill that can be trained.

TL;DR There is no such thing as talent, everyone can art, some people just start a little ahead of the game. Work at it.

JTW2007 · 2 days

Depending on the class that is being ubered and who all is around you, as well as your immediate environment, you should take several courses of action.

If your medic is anywhere around you, the uber is going to head straight towards it. In this situation, it is best for you to defend the medic, even if this means it gets you killed. When I am pushing back an uber, I look for several things:

Is there a way I can kill the uber? Cliffs and such are awesome for just nuetralizing an uber. Rush in, airblast them off, might take a little damage but it removes the threat.
Is there a way to break the uber? Sometimes you can't kill the uber, but you have a choice of removing the medic or the heal target from the scene. Depending on how you are backed up, it's generally better to remove the medic, as removing the target means the medic can simply latch onto another one. Removing can be done through juggling, knocking off the side of a cliff, knocking off a building/ledge to a lower level, or pushing into an area that keeps the medic and target apart.
Simply holding back the push. This is the worst case scenario, but is still very helpful for your team, even if it results in your death. By holding the push at bay with juggling and or constant air blasting, you are killing their ability to use the uber effectively, and saving the rest of your team from getting fried in the crossfire.

Also check to see who is getting ubered. If they are ubering a heavy, watch carefully with how you airblast. Running in while they are spun up, or running in forward will be useless and kill you. If they are a demo or soldier, make sure you are very good at close-combat reflecting and DM before engaging, or you may get your ass kicked. You can practice this easily on MGE servers.

Also corners and groundstalling (the pause, not the crit exploit) are your friends.

rikimtasu · 2 days

It's a tough choice, but in the end I had to go with Gary

Delta0ps0 · 3 days

I'm 21 and I can hold an intelligent conversation. Then again, most of my friends are in their 30s.

Ragorism · 3 days

DPYRO IM STEALING YO SHIT.

I AM DEADWOLF AMA

^For ^you ^maggots ^who ^don't ^know ^who ^I ^am, ^I'm ^the ^pyro ^from ^reddit ^[WEST]

livefox · 3 days

If you haven't traded with the other guy yet, I will take 9 for it. I am currently online.

Chuulimta · 5 days

This honestly depends on the skill level of the scout you are playing. Good scouts will kill you if you try to flame them to death. You do not have the damage output with any of the 4 flamethrowers to kill them from full health before they can meatshot you and be on their merry way. You might damage them pretty good, but you'll almost always come out dead on that side of the fight.

What you want to do is rush them, light them, push them back with an airblast, and then switch to shotgun and nail them, then repeat. Don't move in a straight line. You should be able to take care of most scouts this way if they get in too close to you. If they are taking potshots at you from a distance, shotgun them while retreating back to other classes. Scouts will always have advantage over you with burst damage unless they are dumb/unlucky enough to be caught in an axtinguish.

W+m1 isn't a good tactic unless they are severely injured or are not good players.

MGE some scouts and see the difference in skill level from most pub scouts. It's a big jump in skill level and a whole change in gameplay.

zairuen · 5 days

I telefragged a spy once in an actual match. That was pretty funny. He was sapping the nest and was standing on the teleporter, and I (a pyro) teleported in on top of him.

Happens sometimes. It's hilarious when it does.

MyParentsArentHome · 6 days

Facebook was how I found out my one boyfriend was cheating on me. He told me he didn't have facebook, his name popped up on the "recommended friends" section, and when I clicked it, public wall, with all sorts of "I love my girlfriend" posts.

None of them were about me.

So I turned around and sent an e-mail to his girlfriend, then called him out on his shit. He also got banned from all of the TF2 servers we played on together, when my friends found out what a douche he was. He even tried crying and telling me how much he loved me. Seriously?

Fruglemonkey · 6 days

in 9v9 its against the rules to have more than 1 in a class at any time EDIT: He edited his post to say 6v6 after i commented.

Ghift · 6 days

I'm the pyro for a team that is going platinum now, and here's the run-down on what you're going to experience in comp play.

Airblasting will be your best friend.
Spychecking will be your second best friend. Now, you'll be able to do the spychecking thing just fine.

In fact, I had to drop early once and we had a backburner pyro replace me for a bit, and he got more points on the scoreboard than I did because of his higher damage output, however our medic was dying more to a bombing soldier, which is a big bad no no.

As a pyro, your main goal in highlander is to be extra pocket protection. You'll be most likely seen around the pocket or around the engineer, and will be roaming less. This is because you are the main deterrent to the spy, and all other damage classes (except heavy) have better mobility to get out of a fight if things get hairy. So you are extra damage running with the pack.

This is not to say you can't roam as a pyro. I love roaming as a pyro and grabbing stragglers, but you aren't going to get the same crits you're used to getting from a pub. You will get kills, but team-wise, you'll be less effective at the traditional pyro role, and as soon as the other team realizes this, they will take advantage of it.

blueysson · 6 days

That's what ends up happening, but it's still annoying.

blueysson · 6 days

My dog, who is a chihuahua, would set off this sensor in my mom's car. It was annoying as hell when we wanted to take her to the vet. She loves car rides and loves to lay in the seat, (very good about staying still unless the car is parked) But her little seven pound ass sets the sensor off. No idea why it's that sensitive.

Troven · 8 days

As a pyro that doesn't suck, I'm generally a better decision for taking out nests than the demo that doesn't know how stickies actually work, or that black box soldier who will waste it all reloading, just saying.

I don't know how many times I've seen fail pushes of people trying to go in with a soldier and uber, over and over and over, and failing each time. Then I convince them for an uber and HEY LOOK the damn sentry is down because I know how to play.

This is pubs mind you, not comp.

bejoe905 · 9 days

When I first started playing the game, I played on the LotusClan Arena Chicago server, which is where the majority of the WET ugc team played for at least the half a year I was playing there (They placed 3rd in steel).

I started out as a backburner pyro. And I played to have fun. In arena servers, if you die, you die and stay dead for a long time, so dying is kind of a big deal, and I was ALWAYS dead. I felt self concious about not being able to play as good as my friends who could dominate all the time. Eventually, I got better.

But the most important thing was that I had fun. Yes, I got called a noob and a no skill all the time, and in fact, I still do: Highlander is looked down upon by the competative community. Bring a pyro into an MGE server and the 6s players will start taunting you. Say you play comp to a 6s player and they will laugh in your face and tell you to go back to pubbing.

The point is that no matter what you play, or with what weapons, there are going to be assholes looking down on you and telling you how bad you are. Ignore them. If you want to play backburner pyro because your connection sucks, and you have fun playing that, then practice it. And have fun. That's the point of the game. And sure, you won't be playing comp with a backburner, but you can kick ass and take names in the pub of your choice, and hopefully make some great friends in the community you are in. I have a lot of friends I have met in real life from TF2. It's fun. It's not srs bzns and shittalking like some people make it out to be.

bejoe905 · 9 days

I was thinking of SchrödingersCanine for a third name for some useless thing or other, but it's not as catchy.

bejoe905 · 9 days

Don't be self concious. Unless you're trying to play comp, no one should bitch at you if you miss a shot or you do something wrong. It's a game. That's it. Especially on pubs. :)

You can't learn if you don't do bad. I used to be absolutely terrible. I have friends who still remember why my in game name is "DeadWolf" (I'll give you a hint: it's because I was always dead.) Now I play comp and our team came in 4th place in steel last season (we're bumping up to plat this season.)

You're gonna make mistakes. It's fine. Have fun, laugh when you do something stupid, learn. It's a game, no one is judging you, and if they are, they are trying too hard and need to get a life. :)

twell99 · 9 days

I'll say. As pyro, I fucking hate when the item server goes down. I'm slower, and my melee is now completely useless. Vanilla pyro and axtinguisher/degreaser pyro is a completely different animal. I can deal with shotgun/flaregun, but having all of the unlocks taken away makes me feel like I've been handicapped, while most other classes can still play vanilla and not have to change their playstyle too much. (Though there are some exceptions)

livefox

TROPHY CASE

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