i traced a drawing and used the bucket fill to add color. but the linework is at the bottom of my drawing no matter what i try. what gives?

I'm not sure if I understand what the problem is. But I think you mean that you want the color path to be behind the black lines?

The simplest solution would be to select the color path with the Selection tool. Then click Object menu > Lower to bottom (or there's a button on the control bar).

However, there may be some circumstances where you need more control than that. If that's the case, let us know, and we can give you more options.