Thanks for the helpful (and honest) responses! It is very hard to improve one's craft without honest, constructive & insightful criticism: there's so much one cannot learn unless others point it out! For example, hauksdottir brought up issues about focus that I didn't even realize existed.

It's one thing to realize that a certain picture isn't good enough, but another altogether to figure out exactly WHAT makes the picture not so good! And without the latter, no improvement can be made!

I appreciate the helpful advice and shall continue to work on improving my skillset.

Olivier-It is not my intention to become a professional modeller, but rather to create professional quality illustrations.

Any other critiques? The more the merrier!