Hey, @nschafer! I think @Dan B summed up a pack of super helpful tips already! I think your question requires answers that clarify what drawing approach, objective and style is at stake. Depending on these variables, answers may vary greatly even for one same person - there is no single correct way to draw, and, for example, doing a regular sketch practice and doing creative work may require different approaches for how to look and think through the references and through what we’re drawing. So, for me personally, for example, I have different ways for each context: . WHEN COPYING WHAT I SEE - Realistic drawing from observation is not something I tend to do in my personal artwork, but it’s something I use a lot in my beginner classes. When I’m just attempting to copy on paper what I see as closely as possible, I look constantly at the reference, especially in the beginning of the process, and take a lot of time to do careful appreciation and analysis of the contours, negative spaces and proportions. Sometimes, I’ll take several minutes in the beginning of the process to just look and “draw in my mind”. But once I start to put lines down on paper, I also begin to look at the drawing, of course, after all I need to see how it’s turning out. There is a balance, I believe: if we look just at the reference and not at the paper, we lose control of the result; if we look just at the paper and not the reference, we lose orientation of how it should go. So, ideally, we wanna do both - in fact, we do need to do both if we want our drawing to look like what we’re looking at, since we need to compare visual qualities of one against the other. Now it’s relevant to point out that, yes, there are specific exercises where we’re not supposed to look at the paper at all - Betty Edwards shows a few different variations of these “blind drawing” exercises in her book, “Drawing on the right side of the brain” (which is closely related to Nikolaides’s “Natural way to draw”), and these exercises are especially helpful for beginners who want to improve in observing; but they are a specific type of training for strategic moments in learning, they’re not to be done as our “main approach” to drawing, at least not as far as I know. . WHEN PRACTICING GESTURE - I love sketching gesture, but it requires me to approach the reference in a very different way than when I’m just copying what I see. For gesture, I try to be very “synthetic” in how I interpret the reference: I try to ignore all details and anatomical information, and I just try to visualize “pure” action lines. It’s like I’m simplifying, abstracting and exaggerating the figure to an extreme point where it doesn’t matter if it won’t look like a realistic human body, as long as it conveys a strong sense of movement and the figure’s action is clear to read. In the process, I alternate looking both at the reference and at the drawing. Also, as I’m putting lines down, I try to be fairly quick and not “think” too much (not analyze or measure, but instead let my lines flow intuitively and sort of fast and vigorously). Obviously, proportions often go to space, but I find it helps me to prioritize getting a good motion, since I can fix proportions at later stages in case I decide to develop the drawing. . WHEN DOING CONSTRUCTIONAL DRAWING - In case you’re not familiar with the expression, “constructional drawing” is basically a method that requires thinking structurally “from inside out”, “sculpting” 3D forms on paper and drawing through as if things were transparent. It’s the method used at http://drawabox.com I use it a lot when I want to study anatomy, and it’s very different than the approach I use when I just want to copy what I see. When I’m drawing with this constructional mindset, I’ll usually consult the reference more frequently in the beginning, using it as an “anchor point” for the initial sketch, but at some point I’ll let go of it a bit and stay more time just in the drawing. The reason is that, when working in this way, I don’t need my drawing to look exactly like my reference, but, instead, I need it to make sense within itself, for its structure to be believable and carefully tied down in terms of form, space and accuracy. In the process, instead of asking myself things like “Does this have a likeness with the model?“, I actually ask “Does this feel 3D enough?” or “Are the muscles’ attachment points correct?”. The answers to these questions are more often not in the reference, but in what I know about how form, structure, perspective or anatomy should be built. But I don’t reject or hide the reference whatsoever, I keep it at sight so I can check it too when I feel I need. Looking more at the drawing is just something that happens naturally and usually works well for my objective when I do this kind of study. . WHEN I’M CREATING MY CARTOONS - My personal artwork is probably where I use visual reference the least. References will often be useful to me only to spark ideas in the very beginning of the process, or as something I can quickly consult when I need to remember visual details for features, costumes or props halfway through - but, for most of the time, it’s just the drawing. Part of the reason is that I like to keep my cartoons very simplified and stylized, and I noticed that using too much reference often leads me into wanting to add too much realistic detail. Sometimes, even when I need to consult reference images, I won’t draw while looking at them, but, instead, I’ll take some time to just look and analyze, and then I’ll draw from what I remember afterwards using a constructional approach and adapting to the style I want the drawing to be in. Well, that’s my take, that’s how it works for me. Hope it makes sense to you, and sorry if this got too long. :) Of course, other people may have completely different approaches, preferences, and points of view, and that’s fine. By the way, if you’re interested in more material on how to use reference, @Christian Bull has a lot of insights and tips about this topic in his videos, so perhaps you might like to check them out! Hope this helps with the questions you posed in your post. Please feel free to speak up in case you have any questions or want to share other thoughts. Best regards!

This is one of those things that just takes time. When you are beginning, you have to consciously think about: line weight, measurement (proportion, angles), form, line accuracy, contours, value, simplification, etc. That all takes energy and effort and with beginner skills all of those things will impact how 'correct' you draw. Over time, these things start to become more like habits you don't have to consciously think about so much and therefore you can focus more on line expression and style and less back-and-forth checking. The more you practice fundamentals and in general, the more you ingrain these skills. But make sure you're learning from good instructors/sources so you don't get stuck with bad habits instead that later hinder you. You can practice 'blind drawing' as well to see how you translate what you see onto paper without looking, but it won't look at all pretty early on! It's a good way to test from time to time and see your improvements. Also, some people can visualise really well and so 'see' on the page some of what they're drawing, but for others (like me!) you can't visualise anything so rely on constant checking and building skills to be more accurate over time. Definitely use lots of references, they build your 'visual library' to reference later on when creating from imagination and they help you understand things properly, especially real life references.

Most of the times I look at the ref then my drawing. But don't worry too much about these things, it will come out naturally as you practice