Refer to Jonni Good's book, "Making Animal Sculptures with Paper Mache Clay," for a pattern you can cut out, select a photo or drawing of the side view of an elephant, or draw your own on a piece of paper. Lay the picture onto a piece of paper. Divide the picture into different segments using a grid system: legs in sections of thigh, knee, calf and foot; torso sections of shoulder, mid-section, rear-end and tail, head broken down into cheeks, eyebrow bone, forehead, muzzle, ears and trunk. Cut out all the pieces.
Place each piece, one at a time, onto a piece of cardboard or foam board for a tabletop sculpture or plywood for a large indoor floor or garden sculpture. Transfer the pattern by tracing the outline of each piece with a pencil. Cut out the pieces with a jigsaw, carpet cutter or other cutting device, suitable for the material you are using.
Prepare the pieces of the pattern into body groups. Assemble the pieces of the head. Pad it with crumpled newspaper or aluminum foil. Cover completely with masking tape. Assemble the trunk the same way.
Assemble the leg and body pieces. Tuck foam spacers in between the front legs and glue with the hot glue gun. Repeat for the back legs. Refer to the original sketch or photo of the elephant to determine how thick the spacers need to be, and at which angle to place the pieces to replicate a dynamic life-like posture. Reinforce the legs of large sculptures with wire.
Assemble the tail using crumpled paper and masking tape. Attach the tail, head, ears and trunk to the armature with the hot glue gun. Twist and turn the body, legs and head into the perfect posture; and shape the tail, ears and trunk to finish the armature.