does anybody know a good book that i could use to learn how to make cute gum-paste and fondant figurines? i've looked online for tutorials but all i can find is how to do the little clothes and facial features. i'm new to this so i need a book that i can follow step by step! thanks!

are you talking about people, or animals? books on people are a bit far and few between. As for animals, I have got a few. A simple one to start off with is Ann Pickards 'Cake Characters'. Her designs are simple enough to follow. (A couple of the modelling pics in my photos are from her book)

hi,there is a good book that gives you step-by-step guide to animal figures,its called " fun and original,CHARACTER CAKES,by Maise Parrish.what i do for ideas,is to look on amazon at the books and look for the ones you can veiw inside and make them without buying the book,save me money and gives me great ideas,sneaky i know

Maisie Parrish is brilliant, I love her books. I think they are a lot more complicated though. She wrote 'marzipan magic', which is choc full of characters, it's awesome.

I got a few clay books at my local craft shop. Very easy to follow with gumpaste.

Here is the forum with a ton of great tutorials:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-672099.html

These really helped me when I made mine!

Debbie Brown's books give good instruction on making various characters and figures which can easily be adapted. Also try googling! I've found some incredible tutorial videos on the internet simply by googling something like 'fondant teddybear', fondant elephant, fondant dog, etc.