I am a hopeful figure/pencil artist. I enjoy the human figure, Male and Female. I find artful beauty in both sexes, any race size age or build. In an effort to draw these various forms (as well as expand to other subjects) I have begun to assemble a collection of reference. I also want to collect various pieces of art, ranging from the old masters, to western comic books, to anime to Sunday morning cartoons. I have a collection of five to seven books and a subscription to 3DSK. I am at the point where I need to make a more long term choice on what direction I want to go with my drawing reference.
I enjoy working from print resources most, but buying anatomy books, artist gallery books, ect. can get expensive. purchasing magazines is a good way to collect fashion and clothing reference. you can find a photography book or magazine for just about any subject.
Internet and Digital reference seems easier to come by, however. between 3DSK, free samples from websites, fashion sites, flikr, stock photo sites and the entirety of the internet, this seems the most simple path. I tend to clump these into general catagories, then I tag them in Windows Picture viewer for easier searching.
My question is this, What have you found to be the most fruitful method of collecting reference?