Workbook DXE: How to Find the Perfect Artist for Your Creative Vision

Every creative knows that special moment when their concept crystalizes. Then, maybe even better, it’s approved by the client, and you need to bring the concept to life. You need to find the right commercial artist who can take it to the next level. The search begins.

Before the internet, you’d reach for your copy of Workbook to see the industry’s best photographers and illustrators. Then came websites. And social. Through it all, Workbook morphed with the changing times to provide multiple ways to show the best commercial artists.

So where do you go now to find that creative partner?

Enter the Workbook DXE.

Workbook soft launched Digital Experience Edition in May as another free resource to help industry creative decision makers find the best in photography, videography, illustration and animation. Workbook turned a page by taking the familiar form of a spread ad and pushing it in ways that print can’t, so the DXE brings an artist’s work to life in different and creative ways. 

In a time when walking away with more content from a job is demanded, Workbook DXE presents photography and video, illustration and animation, in an easy-to-view, yet unique-to-the-artist form. Unique because just as every artist has his or her own style, every artist has designed his or her own page. This gives the creatives a great chance to understand the artists’ sensibilities in a very short amount of time. Face-to-face meeting had already gone by the wayside pre-pandemic, so the Workbook DXE could be the next best thing.  

Every illustrator and photographer still has his or her personal websites. If you want to see the classics or their most personal work, go there. The DXE is a sound bite, an elevator pitch, a commercial for people who work in a commercial industry. But don’t be surprised when you stay around for a while. You may look at an artist’s portfolio and think, “I can check out one more.” 

The DXE is definitely engaging. It’s also practical. And deep, from the basic alphabetical search to keywords based on specialty. If you’re a fanboy looking for an illustrator to take you to a different world (hello, Dave Seeley) or need a classic touch to take you back in time (the brush of Robert Gantt Steele), the DXE takes you there, no waiting.

As new as the DXE is, over 600 artists have embraced it as the dynamic way to present their work. From Hall of Fame illustrator Mark Summers, to multiple Gold Medalist Bill Mayer, Time magazine cover artist Jason Seiler, and New Yorker cover artist Victo Ngai, the industry’s most awarded creatives are showcasing their work in the DXE.

The photography side of the DXE features shooters who have won awards by the bucketful. If you like to look at award books, you’ll recognize a lot of the names in the DXE. Tim Tadder, Doug Menuez, Cris Crissman, Andy Anderson and other photographer/directors of world-class caliber show their work in this new format and take advantage of what it can do. These are the pro’s pros. This includes every aspect of advertising and commercial photography. Still life doesn’t remain still in the DXE.

If you’re looking to get inside an artist’s head, if you’re looking to find a way to see if sensibilities match, the Workbook Digital Experience Edition is a new way to get there. It’s an immersive journey to find your next partner in creativity or find inspiration from new work.

Sometimes a product comes along that you didn’t even know you needed. Nobody asked for the Workbook DXE, but soon it might be hard to remember doing an artist search without it.