help me collaborate on marketing ideas for my art business?

[Terra]

hey everyone, i'll start off with a short background. my names terra. im 19. i do a lot of painting and drawing. i work in a lot of mediums, such as acrylic, oil pastel, graphite, spray paint.. and i do mostly realist-type art, such as portraits, still lifes, landscapes, ect but my favorite subject is people. i love capturing the emotion and character in someones face.

now my current situation..
ive done some commissioned work, and started marketing myself a little.. (handing out business cards, creating a facebook page for my art, ect) but ive been talking to my sister who went to school for graphic design about expanding my little art "business"
she needs to build up her portfolio, so shes agreed to help me make business cards, post cards that promote my art, pamphlets that would have my artists statement, ect.
im really looking forward to working on these things with her and we have some good ideas already, but i thought i would open up the collaboration further to all of you.


i could use advice on ways to market my art. along with the ideas i posted above, i was thinking of making a post card or pamphlet i could hand out to coffee shops, dentist offices ect explaining that i could rent their wall space/ display my art in their place of business. i think that would be more professional then just going around promoting myself and taking up peoples time.

as far as business cards go.. i had the idea to make my business name "queen of arts" then for a business card, have it look like the queen of hearts playing card, only with some embellishments, and my logo in the corner (still working on a logo) then my contact information in the center. im still open to advice on this

oh, and eventually, i would like to have a "showing" for my art. so i could use some help planning that. should i find a space to rent, or network with other artists to share costs and set up an event.. maybe at someones house or studio and have some live music as well as snacks&coffee, and there will be art for sale/on display.. and my sister will design the fliers for that. i have a lot of followers on my facebook page, so i could promote it on there as well as spread the word in person

also, since im just starting out, it would be very helpful to collaborate with other artists, so to anyone who has experience with this kind of thing, let me know if you want to exchange emails or something so we can perhaps keep in contact and turn to each other for advice?

anyway, i think that's enough for everyone to think about, and thank you in advance for the help, i know this is a somewhat long question.

[WindowlessWindow]

TL;DR

[Metys]

There's a couple websites that can help you collaborate on you ideas to get feedback and make them happen. startupsquare.com, symbyoz.com (disclaimer, this one is my site), ideaoffer.com, lovemyidea.com, ideamarketplace.com and there's probably more.
Good luck.