How collaboration brings about Progress

Some times in the solitude of the artistic life, you find yourself wondering if you have made any progress what soever. Locked in the fervent battle of line, value, composition and color, hours pass unnoticed, and when you come up for air, your mind can be so muddled that you can't make that distinction. I have concluded that it must be a rare individual that can subsist on their own with out the vantage point of an exterior view. I indeed wonder if such an individual exists. A truly successful individual that is. So I must give pause to praise those who give of themselves in an effort to lend their eyes, ears and voices, both literal and metaphorical to the encouragement and betterment of their fellow artists.
YES! Praise to the collaborative effort! To my Art buddies over at the http://Illopond.com      
       Just to demonstrate how you can benefit from the constructive criticism of other artists, here are a couple of pages from my contribution to "8 A SteamPunk Anthology" a "Before and After"
if you will, of how listening to the comments can motivate you to reach the next level in your creative life.

TA DAAA! Hows that? 

Well, I hope there have been improvements any way. Perhaps my muddled brain wishes, but I feel that it is a vast improvement in paneling as well as in the execution if the visuals. The befores were done a little over a year ago, and the afters I just finished up tonight.  

I think this highlights also the importance of letting go of the precious, realizing that even your best work, in your mind, can be made better if you are willing to do so. Case in point, I tried to cut corners and fidge  with the boys illustration in panel one and using it in panel four, COUGHT! thanks Mark! Ill hammer out another one. So I'm still not done with this one. Nice to know that even

completely rejected concepts, are beneficial in what you learn from their execution, so nothing is waste.         

You know, I think this is true not only as far as our artistic endeavors, but also for our growth as human beings.  We have to learn from each other and trust each other. Everyone has a perspective that is different from our own, and from that perspective we can find much which can be used to better ourselves.