I am making a tiered cake with a wildcat coming out of the top for the University of Kentucky. I think it will be 5 tiers. My question is what to make the wildcat out of. Do I have to use marzipan? Could I use fondant?
Has anyone ever made a cake with a large figure coming out of the top? I could use any hints on how to do this and how it holds up. What do you use to paint the figure?

You can make the wildcat out of modelling paste, which can be as simple as adding some gum trag to fondant and using that just like you would clay to model your figure.
You can colour the modelling paste with regular gel colours, I like to use Americolors myself and that way you don't have to paint them. If you do need to paint or draw details on, you can use any non-toxic markers or edible food color pens.
HTH

I use fondant for all my figurines.. I seem to work with it alot easier then any other type of modelling paste...

I have used rice krispy treats molded into the shape I need. Then I cover it with fondant. This is less expensive than using all fondant!