Damn, Monk, yes, it will be fun 
Thanks for your kind compliment. But if the best man shall win you’ll have an advantage 
Here is a wire of the elephant. I didn’t sculpt it, because sculpting is unknown terrain for me. The only things I ever sculpted are some cloth and face wrinkles. Surely not mentionable. Instead of that I like to make use of the mirror modifier and proportional editing. Since 2.68 proportional editing is also aware of the x-mirror option - thanks to Campbell Barton. That’s a cool thing.
It’s the first Blender competition ever for me and I’ve chosen a challenging scene. There will be rocks and snow and plants and wind and people and elephants and armor and probably a donkey. So let’s see what I can learn with a deadline and of course all the advanced, ambitious and experienced Blender artists as contestants at the back of my neck.
I’m hoping for plenty of support from you, guys, to get me through