Excellent lighting system
although i'm not to sure of the shadow on the ground beside the middle knight, why is it the same height as the on on the top knight?
(i'm assuming the light source is from off in the northwest direction)
I think to debunk the busy-ness, you should take the scene above where you're asking us about busy-ness, and make several copies of it
1 without the well defined rock clutter
1 without foliage
1 with some generic blank space <- important, it seems as though you're trying to fit the whole map into the viewing area, as opposed to utilizing scrolling
and then compare it to this one
i think your lack of definition of forms on foliage tiles is causing it personally
the tiles that lack outlined areas have too many shades and seem almost unfinished
you'll get into a debate with yourself about oversized plants, such as how rpgs like to define "to-scale-massive" grass blades, but i think you'll find the planks and rocks already existing allow you to oversize and define your plants a bit
try it, is all i can say.
p.s. i've been watching this develop for a long time and i read the blog all the time, lovin it