Viewing Reference Photos When Using the Mesh Tool

Here's a great tip for working with the Mesh tool (U). Often, illustrators will use a reference photo as a starting place to create their work. Well, if you're using the Mesh tool, it can often be useful to switch between Outline and Preview modes because the colors you're adding may cover up the reference photo. Here's the tip: Be sure that when you bring your reference photo into Illustrator, that you place it as a template layer. This will ensure that you're able to view it in Outline mode. If not, when you switch to Outline mode, all you'll see are the outlines and no photo.