do you make each piece separately (i.e. head, torso, legs, arms, shoes), let dry, then "glue" together with water/royal icing, or do you build the whole figure and then let it dry? I'm wanting to make a scarecrow for a cake next month, but I've never made figures before. Any help would be appreciated

Usually allowing pieces to dry first makes them hard to stick together. when I've had to do figures that need to stand up tall I usually will dry the legs first then build the body onto the dry legs. I poke a couple of toothpicks or some dry spaghetti into the top of the pants to give the torso something to hold onto when assembled.

Thanks! I never would have thought of the toothpick support.