Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Missouri

Re: Copyright law

This depends on the facts. Probably you ARE breaking right of privacy (right of celebrity) laws. You are probably not breaking copyright law.

You are proposing to sell artistic renderings of celebrities in a non-privileged manner without permission. If it were for news, for an educational course (without resale), for you own personal collection (without resale) or for archival purposes only it might be fair use. The logic behind the law in this situation is that by painting the celebrity and selling the painting you are stealing a little piece of value that the celebrity created and you are decreasing the value of that celebrity by displacing a sale the celebrity might have profited from. So, the better approach is to obtain permission for your art, which permission should not be very expensive and should be easily obtained if the painting is complimentary of the celebrity.

Since your pencil drawings are apparently original, you are not copying paintings, photos or other copyrighted works.

If you use the celebrity's name in connection with the sale of your sketches, you may (depending on the facts) also be violating trademark laws (federal and state) and may (again, depending on the facts) be engaging in unfair competition.

If you want to sell such sketches, take sample sketches to an experienced copyright lawyer and spend a few hundred dollars getting advice on how to minimize your risk in such sales. It will be money well spent, as it should save you much worry and grief later.