Definitely not bad for a first try! I do agree that the animation is jerky, but it certainly isn't beyond repair. One way to look at it is to forget for a minute that you are in Maya. Put yourself in the character's boots and imagine what you would do if you were him.

When you've figured that out, do a few sequential thumbnails. Animate in passes. Do the head first, the arms next, the hands next, &c (basically, the largest objects/most obvious motion gets animated first).

TAKE SOME TIME to learn the GRAPH EDITOR! You can probably "un-jerk" much of the jerky animation just by manipulating some of the curves! If there's ANY advice worth giving to an animator in Maya, it's "LEARN THE GRAPH EDITOR"!

As for the render, I do like the fact that it's in the dark, and the lighting is rather nice! What gets me, however, is WHERE the shadows fall. The shadows fall right across the character's eyes for much of the picture, and that pretty much kills it! In a "dark scene", the eyes are often the only indicator of what's going on!

I've done 2D animation for 15 years and Maya animation for about four years, so I think I can say what I just said with some degree of confidence!

Keep at it! :-)