I always imagine knights as some kind of creature. You should paint next one as sea horse or a unicorn.
Actually if you think of various sea creatures, they are the perfect basis for chess piece design. Pawns could be fishes standing upright. Maybe seashells.
Rooks could be some big flower like anemone from bottom of ocean or some kind of coral.
Knights as seahorse. Bishops should be shaped like a squid that is facing down.
The queen can be the octopus because queen's area of effect is like tentacles. Queen also could be a big white shark.
King could be a King crab on a platform. You couldn't have a flat crab as it will be too low.
King's cross must be a trident.
Octopus knight by local artist! Thought I'd share with everyone and promote her stuff. Enjoy!
https://www.facebook.com/elysiamylesart