Art Collector's Guide

The original art for sale here are ORIGINAL, UNIQUE pieces of art by Daniel Johnston.   This should not be confused with reproductions like prints or posters.

When purchased from this site, you receive a letter of authenticity, and your piece is catalogued with the digital archives of Daniel. The art may appear in subsequent publications, news articles, or books.

Daniel reserves and retains the copyrights and may reproduce images of any art sold.

If you would like to have your name included in an index of fans and collectors in a future Art Book publication, be sure to email store@hihowareyou.com with instructions or HOW you'd like to be listed in the COMMENTS portion of your transaction at check-out.

To be listed, we need to know HOW you would like to be listed - we are requesting a NAME or PSEUDONYM and location.

For instance:
A Johannes, Norway
Brenda Billingsly, Philiadelphia, PA
Running Bear, USA

If you have made purchases of art from www.hihowareyou.com or www.rejectedunknown.com in the PAST and would like to be listed, please email store@hihowareyou.com with the instructions AND specify the EMAIL ADDRESS that you used in your original purchase.

If you have questions, contact store@hihowareyou.com

As with his music-making, Daniel drew with whatever was at hand. Most 15" x 20" and 8 1/2" x 11" pieces sold here were done using ink pen or markers (sometimes a ball-point pen, sometimes a "Flair" pen or Sharpie marker or other marker). When colored, he again used "anything at hand".  Marker coloring are sometimes made using regular consumer-grade color markers or highlighters, but more often with professional grade color markers. Water colors are either the typical soluble color agent or gaucha water coloring (paste-like opaque water colors).

Daniel was known to have sometimes drawn on both sides of a page, or one side may have an incomplete work. This is typically noted.

The PAPER used in most recent works was either 15" x 20" illustration board (non-bending board with a smooth white surface) or 8 1/2" x 11" card-stock (65lb to 150lb), but occasionally on typing paper stock (20-22lb).

The base color is most often white but sometimes other shades or colors. The older works (from 1970's or 1980's) are copier-grade "typing" paper and often on the back of scrap paper. It is sometimes lined paper, and sometimes have hole punches, or it can be paper from spiral notebooks with small holes down the side.

Daniel was a manic-depressive, bi-polar compulsive, "stream of consciousness" artist. He drew compulsively and was not always careful with his finished art. For this reason, most art received from Daniel was in imperfect condition - some of the older drawings are creased, folded, yellowed, or stained. Water colors are often on regular paper and wrinkled from the water color paints.

We have taken the practice of SCANNING the art as received and storing it with a protective cover safe, and stored in dry conditions.

Some pieces may benefit from simple restoration, like removing creases.   We leave it to the buyer to perform any such repairs. Some collectors regard the imperfect state of Daniel's art as part of its' character to be preserved and displayed "as-is."

If you have any questions about the exact condition of a piece you are interested in, you are welcome to inquire about the piece before making a purchase. Otherwise, the piece is in the condition as represented in the scan, and may have blunted edges, folds, dings, and sometimes tears or damage - these are almost always visible in the scans.

Daniel was both pleased and unhappy about the rising art prices. He was happy that his art is valuable, but not happy that regular fans often couldn't get hold of his art.

We MUST price all the art at market pricing or savvy collectors buy all the stock.

Daniel set the president that we offer a DISCOUNT to first time buyers, hoping this will make it possible for you to buy at least one piece of art.

So if you've never bought art before from hihowareyou.com or rejectedunknown.com, you can request a DISCOUNT CODE by sending an email to support@hihowareyou.com asking for the FIRST TIME ART BUYER DISCOUNT CODE.

When you do, you will receive instructions to get a 20% discount on an original art piece. The code is valid only once and can be used for up to six months after it is issued.

And - yes! If you've already bought art, but didn't get a discount on your first piece, you can ask for a discount on another piece of art.

If you have any other question about art or discounting, please contact support@hihowareyou.com.