For now, I've removed the background tile. Trying to loo at it objectively, I hear what you're saying.
The 2 images I've seen (heat and the warriors) didnt evoke pixel art at all (What exactly is Pixel Art?. So, please state here how you define pixel art.
I think I understand what you're saying here. I'm definitely new to this (just started getting into this type of drawing within the past month or two), so I'm glad to hear this type of critique. It's interesting for me to attempt an answer.
The first sentence in the definition you linked me to is, I think, the most important one. "Pixel Art is a discipline by which images are created with pixel-level intent or precision." This is exactly what I'm doing, but at the same time I suppose it's the exact opposite. I create my images at an extremely low resolution -- to the point that being off by a single pixel changes the shape of an image, the curve of a line, the feeling expressed, or the viewer's perception. That being said, I don't limit myself to a specific colorset and i've yet to experiment with many of the techniques mentioned in the post. It may be that by blowing up the images to anywhere from twice to eight times their original resolution negates my pixel-specific work, but I prefer to think of it as simulating a low-res viewing environment.
Perhaps what I'm doing is more a simulation of pixel art than pixel art in the purest sense. I hope I'm not stepping on toes here.