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3:29 PM, Saturday February 8th 2020

The short answer is both!

Seeing how something looks and how something works in its environment are both aspects to the greater concept of a visual library. I often use an analogy of Lego. Doing studies is like buying a Lego set and building it according to instructions. As you follow instructions you learn techniques and ways they work (how things work in their environment) as well as building up your collection of Lego (visual library/stuff to put in your environments).

When using reference I often look up a bunch of images related to what I'm doing, draw some 1:1 copies to get them in my head and understand how to draw them, then start picking and choosing things like proportion, where props go, overall mood, etc. Hope this helps, and if you want any clarification let me know! It's early and I'm not at my most clear mind yet =)

1:35 AM, Sunday February 9th 2020

following what you said is it fine for me to draw something that looks different from one reference but follows how the object works like in the reference, essentially steering off the reference yet still following the rules of how the object should work based on the reference?

1:24 PM, Sunday February 9th 2020

Certainly! That's how you start to get new ideas and develop your style-which is just a series of conscious choices you are making.

The recommendation below is an advertisement. Most of the links here are part of Amazon's affiliate program (unless otherwise stated), which helps support this website. It's also more than that - it's a hand-picked recommendation of something I've used myself. If you're interested, here is a full list.
PureRef

PureRef

This is another one of those things that aren't sold through Amazon, so I don't get a commission on it - but it's just too good to leave out. PureRef is a fantastic piece of software that is both Windows and Mac compatible. It's used for collecting reference and compiling them into a moodboard. You can move them around freely, have them automatically arranged, zoom in/out and even scale/flip/rotate images as you please. If needed, you can also add little text notes.

When starting on a project, I'll often open it up and start dragging reference images off the internet onto the board. When I'm done, I'll save out a '.pur' file, which embeds all the images. They can get pretty big, but are way more convenient than hauling around folders full of separate images.

Did I mention you can get it for free? The developer allows you to pay whatever amount you want for it. They recommend $5, but they'll allow you to take it for nothing. Really though, with software this versatile and polished, you really should throw them a few bucks if you pick it up. It's more than worth it.

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