Sorry for taking so long to reply.
I don't have a proper edit yet because I'm not quite sure how I want to proceed yet. I HAVE spent some time on your comments and considered my problems as they are.

First of all on the left:
I took some time to lay out my problems with perspective.  I started with the character from a primarily front on perspective. Then I screwed everything up by throwing this anvil in with a different perspective because I wasn't skilled enough at the time to draw it properly.

Then I continued to make mistakes by finding a way to jam a bar into his hand in a front on perspective to match his body that DID NOT match the anvil.  While this forced me to fix his anatomy issues substantially, it did not fix the image at all.

I used red lines to show how I have lined the room out with perspective matching the lines on the anvil. I was cheating and not using any form of real 2 point perspective, but instead just running parallel lines.

I used green circles/lines to show how his body plateaus are lined up straight across.  Looking at it this way I see that my image simply cannot work as it is.
In conclusion, I must either redraw his form or the room and the anvil upon which I rooted the setting's lines. 

Next, I considered your comments on broadening the shot and using the image to flow the focus inward on the character.  (Basics that I forgot as I struggled with my lack of experience on the perspectives.)
I used simple tools to mockup a new layout for the room.
I will probably pull the anvil across more and level it out to match his body alignment.  Then I will use a single vanishing point to make minor modifications on the layout and line up everything in a parallel room.  I put in some details on the furnace(which I pulled to the back wall.  A basin for an oil quench beside him, and a grinding wheel which I put on the other side to force attention inward.

I have a few open areas.  I think that with these items I can get away with using lighting to pull the attention onto the figure though.  Comments and criticism on this before I move forward to any sort of REAL heavy work on it would be greatly appreciated.  And thanks a lot for your time and patience guys!   

Yours Tall > Yours Small > Mine
Threw together an edit.
You didn't fit her to the size limits. You went 16 tall but stayed 14 wide.  Which really makes it hard to emulate a style when you aren't following their limitations and/or aren't using the full potential of them.  Every pixel counts and has to show something.
They use that black border to outline their sprites but you have to watch for clumps that aren't necessary (between arms and body on yours)
Those extra black spots take up some of your available shaping area.
You are using sort of scattered differentiation in colors on the dress to attempt flow, but you have to think about the bigger picture.  If you were looking at a person from this far away would you be able to see the wrinkles in her dress or would you maybe see the line of lighting that reflected off the curve of her bosom. Think about how you use each pixel and what you are trying to make it show.
I tried to show how you can show shape particularly on her chest and the way I divided the portions of her body with lighting.  Bright on top dark under chin bright chest, darker underneath, brighter knee area, darker in to small feet.  This implies shape.  I also pulled a color out of your hair because it just wasn't necessary at all.  (The brightest shade you used was only one pixel and only existed in that one spot through the entire piece.)
Mine isn't perfect by any means.  I can already see things I could have done to make it better.  Hope this helps you some.   

  You really don't want your terrain to take more attention than your sprite(typically).
Thin may be good for this case.  Your terrain is already 60% of the mockup and the other terrain in the background fills almost the rest.  If you go much "thicker", your terrain may pull too much away from the action.

Are you running off of a 2x zoom or anything?  That might help a lot to bring the attention squarely onto the subject and it will also make the tiles feel much more fleshy up close.

I've been hammering on this quite a bit, although most of the work I have done isn't visible with this result.  I have played with moving things around and changed a lot of angles.
Several hours working on perspectives and color palettes have left me with a really bad wall (though it's grid work is what I am using to develop my perspective in an anchored direction.  I will probably return to a dirt or stonework wall after I have finished using it to layout the scene better.

The furnace isn't quite there yet on it's shape but it's definitely getting closer. The opening and bottom are both in line with the perspective and the colors are closing in on what I'm aiming to use.
I still need to round the top better and then spend some time laying out the bricks as I want them. I imagine that will be time consuming so I am trying to get the scene fully ready before really coloring anything with any dedication.

I realize now just how out of perspective the character is, particularly his hat and face which are/were created with a straight 2D mindset.      ~Learning~

I have been to many tournaments and viewed/participated in this sort of conduct. This style of movement is deliberately attuned to muscle control. It simulates not only the ready stance they take before and after but also displays crisp and precise movements.  The purpose is to show they have control of every muscle in their body.  Refinement and mastery of the body.

The reason I say this is because you are watching the wrong things to simulate this sort of walk.  Their legs aren't stiff. They are precisely placed and moved at a speed that controls body weight and balance. They are not walking heel to toe as most of us do in shoes they are walking on the balls of their feet.  If anything they are graceful.  (Think cranes stalking fish in the water.)

Their shoulders are not bouncing around because they are keeping such movement in measured increments and more importantly SLOW increments.

Think of it like tip toeing.  Not silly but sneaky tip toeing. Gradual measured movements.
To capture this effect you will need to do several things.
Study animation to understand the speed at which you have to transition a sprite to capture speed effects, study how their entire bodies are moving and not only their feet and legs, and do something about the super exaggerated movements that you have in your sprites.  Your arms are noodles, the shoulders are all over the place, and your legs function like 80s action figure toys. (The point is that your figure seems to have very little control of his movements. ~The opposite of your goal~)

I think you could probably capture the effect if you tried those things, even without really developing your figures shape and body.  I have seen it done with stick figures.
You could also see this type of movement in military drills, ceremonies, balance competitions, religious and royal processions.  Hope this helps.