I started thinking about chess as an analogue of war, which led to Star Wars and this image of a chess battle in space. Since not all the chess pieces are visible in the original image, I created the queens and the bishops using parts of the other pieces and the crown custom shape. Once complete, the pieces were duplicated and one set colored red. Red and white squares (tiles) were created in elements and shadows added. The moon is a brush. The stars were added via the Texture filter.