Is it better to color fondant or gumpaste before you make figures or to paint it later. And, now, with all on my plate, "better" now means "easier." Thanks!

It depends on your painting skills and how long you have for the pieces to dry. Sometimes the paint can take a while, especially if you use undiluted gel colors. And if you touch it before it's dry, then you have a white mark where there's no paint. The longest it's taken anything I've made to dry is a week...my husband was helping me and couldn't wait for me to color the fondant black, so we had to paint it.