Thank you for the info! While I am pretty experienced with AI Upscalers and don't want to use them for my project anymore, I appreciate you taking the time to give me all this info, and I hadn't heard of ComfyUI, so I'll look into it. I've used the other AI Upscalers and they always have a tell, they tend to misinterpret details and also introduce this sort of waxy, cracked look to the image. Beyond that, I'm trying to improve as an artist, so I am actually trying to learn how to do these things myself. But again, I appreciate all the info and the time you took to share it.
Being brutally honest? Your fundamentals (such as anatomy and lighting) are either novice level or non-existent and there's nothing about your work that feels concept art besides having a turnaround in it. Its not a surprise why you haven't gotten anything back as most employers are used to hiring guys with top notch quality and don't like to settle for less.
You should find actual courses online that explain what concept art is and find general art courses that teach you about the fundamentals. Check out Schoolism with Bobby Chiu. He has a number of artists who teaches courses on these topics and do a good job of it. I can attest to this because I've bought his courses before.
There is another one I've seen that looks good called Visign, though I haven't purchased anything from it so I have no idea if the instruction quality is good. Still, it looks good and might be worth a look.
But yeah if I were you, I'd not worry about applying for jobs. Instead just focus on improving to get much better and when your work starts to look like what currently working concept artists are doing, then apply.
I think I'm happy to call this project finished at this point. Thank you to everyone who gave feedback, without you it wouldn't have looked as good as it does! ArtStation - The Yellow Big Beam Flashlight
that's a really good point actually - if the real world equivalent is made of multiple parts, you generally don't want to try and model it as a single part.
Pretty sure that end cap is on its own. Save yourself some headache and make it in two parts. If making it for game then alpha texture will do the trick.