So I read through all of chapter 6 & Chapter 4, I also took a look at the character Q&A and skimmed a bit of chapter 5. So I haven't read enough to really comment on issues of character inconsistencies - but, from what I saw the characters personalities fit with their designs really well, which, by the way, the character designs are great (Yes, even Josie's! I don't know why gus doesn't like them). I know I've said that a lot before already, but it's definitely one of the best parts of your comic. I also really like how each character has a different font & bubble style, usually that's a thing that bothers me because it looks too eclectic, it's hard enough to find one font that matches the tone of a comic, let alone one font for every character, but I think you've done it in a way that feels cohesive. Not only are the character designs just dripping with personality and charm, but they're well drawn too, and they fit into their environments really well. As far as I'm concerned, these characters alone are enough to carry the comic for me. I think your hands are fine too besides the occasional janky drawing, but occasional janky drawings are a natural part of making a comic. They were never distracting to me.
Lets start with something kinda nitpicky but really easy to put into practice.
I guess the exception to this would be
if you wanted
to have your characters
sound like
they're making awkward
pauses,
and if that's your
intention I would shape the contours
of your bubbles
so that they fit around the text.
My second issue is that for the most part, the characters seem to always be shot at a flat angle. I think if you shook up the framing a bit more and used some more creative "camera work" it would really help enhance the fun/spooky vibe you've got going with the atmosphere. If you wan't a resource to learn more about visual storytelling & composition, check out Framed Ink (I linked it in my review of @MK_Wizard's comic)
On the note of stiff poses - It's definitely an issue. The only way to really fix this is to practice gesture drawing more and just get used to drawing your characters in a variety of different poses. Which, because this issue has improved over time, I think you're already doing these things. That said - I think the stiffness really suits Erina. As for everyone else, I would think about how they move and how they stand. What does their body language say about them? There are a couple panels here and there where the characters poses really feel perfect for them, (Xenor has some really fun frames for example), however their styles of movement don't really persist from shot to shot.
On a somewhat related note to the last two points - I think part of the issue is how you frame the characters as they walk around.
It's a little bit hard to put my finger on what exactly is wrong here - I was going to share some panels from my comic of characters walking around for comparisons sake, but I realized that there actually aren't any. What I usually do is I'll show character at point A in one shot, cut (potentially to something else), and then show them at point B in another shot.
This isn't to say that you shouldn't have panels of characters walking around - but you don't necessarily need them either. I think my particular issue with the panels that I screenshot is that there's a weird use of negative space - it feels uncomfortable. This could have been intentional but it kinda looks sloppy. I think if people don't realize it's a composition issue they'll attribute that awkwardness to something else (such as the pose being "stiff")
some other subtle composition things that are kinda weird but easy to avoid (or use intentionally):
- Cutting off part of a characters figure at a joint.
- Unbalanced visual elements within a frame.
- Having an even number of visual elements in the same frame.
There's a lot of other little things I could point out - but they're all easy to avoid once you learn about them. Something that really helped me was the series of composition tutorials on www.ctrlpaint.com They're definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen them before.
Overall, I think your comic has a lot of charm to it. The atmosphere is great, the character designs are fun, and I really enjoy the premise. The issues that you have with stiffness are problems that will go away with time and practice. The issues with composition and framing are pretty severe - but once you learn the rules its all easy to avoid or fix. But as far as I'm concerned you've already achieved your main goal of sharing the world and characters in your head in an engaging way, a stiff pose or a janky drawing doesn't take away from the inherent values of self expression and imagination. Keep up the good work!