Quote - As for the celebrity likenesses - here's something to chew on: Luke Skywalker bears the face of Mark Hammil. So where does the line get drawn on that one? :-D

 

Hasbro makes action figures that bear the likeness of Mark Hammil. Sideshow Collectibles makes statues that also bear Mark Hammil's likeness (much more closely than Hasbro even). Both of them have a license to do so from Lucas Arts, but neither of them can really be considered competition with Lucas Arts or each other, as they each specialize in a different type of product designed for a different purpose. 

One can pretty much bet that if someone else tried using Mark Hammil's likeness in unlicensed products, they would get cease and desist letters from lawyers of all 3 companies - and possibly even Mark Hammil himself. (is he still alive?). Back in the late 90's/early 2000's Lucas Arts went on a witch hunt for fan art on the internet, sending C&Ds to every site they could find that had anything to do with Lucas Arts proprietary content - be it original art (fan art) or images from their films. It created a huge stink, and I'm not really sure if they've ever stopped doing it. SOPA and PIPA deals specifically with this sort of thing.

Celebrity likenesses are very dangerous waters, and any artist that values his time, career and personal finances is best to avoid attempting something like that without express permission, unless he's doing it soley for the purpose of demonstrating his skills in a portfolio, or contract bid to a company who holds the rights to said likeness. 

Zbrush central is full of character sculpts ranging from Marvel superheroes to celebrities, but none of the artists that create those likenesses can legally use them for anything other than demonstration of skill, and maybe some contests here and there. 

 

~Shane