As an artist is it illegal to paint a public figure and earn cash from it?

Question:

As an artist is it illegal to paint a public figure and earn cash from it?

Can they sue you? or to take it even further, can there be any legal repercusion if you draw/paint an "enemy" of yours in a unflattering way? I am a university graduate with an art degree and have always wondered about this.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Of course they can sue you.

For example, in 2000 Tiger Woods sued sports artist Rick Rush for selling prints of a painting he had made of Woods winning the Masters. The next year the heirs of the Three Stooges sued Gary Saderup, an artist who had done charcoal sketches of the trio, then put them on T-shirts and lithographs.