I’m on the final step of my short animation, which is adjusting the layering. However, when I try to move a child element above its parent, the option simply isn’t there (I tried this both in the “Arrange” menu and by dragging it with the Exposure Sheet).
Searching the Help files seems to agree with this issue:
"When you are changing the layering order from the Exposure Sheet or using the Arrange commands, if the element you are trying to change is the child of an dynamic element, such as a peg or an effect, you will only be able to reorder layers within the parent element. You will not be able to reorder layers if doing so requires Toon Boom Studio to detach the element from its parent to change its layering order. "
So I’m left scratching my head. If I have a two element animation, with a head and a nose, for example, of course the nose should be a child of the head and of course the nose should be on the top layer. The clues I can find seem to say no, that’s not possible.
What am I missing?
Will.
You are correct about the layering order with respect to pegs / parents etc. But there is another degree of layering available in the case of a hierarchy. It involves using the “z” or front - back location of the elements. Even in a hierarchy all the elements are essentially on the same plane, so by positioning an element forward or backward by a fractional amount you change the layering.
Use the Scene Planning “Select” Tool (6). Select your object. Go to the Properties panel under the Drawing tab change the Offset for the Z-direction (the last input box to 0.01 F for front or 0.01B for backward).
You can also move elements back and forth along the Z axis while in Camera View. Useful keyboard shortcuts are [Alt] + [Down Arrow] to bring the element one increment closer to the camera, and [Alt] + [Up Arrow] to push the element one increment back away from the camera. Using these shortcuts in Camera View will move elements in .01 increments. -JK
I should have thought of this. I was too busy shaking my fist towards the heavens. 
Thank you JK, I need to get used to using these elements in 3D space.