the smudging is quite good
but the blurring on the sides isn't helping the depth its just making it blurry
To my eye it looks akward with the arm thing going down instead of keeping with the straight line you had with the smudging
I think you need to add a little bittle of vibrance to the middle. It seems washed out compared to the rest of the sig.
Good job though.
Shame you washed out the colour. The red on his visor would have gave it at least some colour depth. The smudging is good and flow quite well with the render. Somehow the lighting seems a bit off to me, that could use a bit more work. Overall its an appealing piece, but i agree with keroaplt in that blurring the sides is an ametuer mistake to bring focus to the focal. Instead you need to blur based on depth.
Not seen any of your other working so i can't say if your improving. KIU though GJ.