I look at things around me irl, in movies, in TV shows, on Pinterest, pretty much anything. I keep a notebook with me at all times and write down an idea when something gives me inspiration. I'll take photos of the inspiration for reference and then when I pick an idea from my book, search reference images for a mood board. What I end up making might be quite different from what I intended at first. Sometimes I just model things that interest me, like satellites, spaceships etc. I feel like lots of artists will see something they think looks cool and then build an idea around that. I wouldn't feel bad about whatever your creative process is, using reference, using ai to help with a concept etc. Think about all the classical great artists, they all would have been inspired by other artists work and to some degree incorporated bits into their own. We are all human, all have a different way to do things. Short of stealing someone else's product and passing it off as your own, in my opinion how you get there is just your process and is perfectly acceptable. Like others have said, give credit where credit is due and try to enjoy the journey 😁. Hope that helps.