Adam Ellis (artist)
Adam Ellis | |
|---|---|
| Born | Adam Ellis October 1, 1986 Montana, U.S. |
| Education | Art Institute of Boston (BA in Illustration) |
| Occupations | Artist, writer |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Employer(s) | Self Employed (2018-present) Buzzfeed (2013-2018) |
Adam Ellis (born October 1, 1986) is an American artist, and writer best known for his Twitter multimedia series titled "Dear David" from 2017-2018; in which he would post drawings, photos, and recordings of a supposed child ghost haunting his home.[1] His Twitter stories would lead to the 2023 film with the same title.[2][3]
Early life
Adam was born on October 1, 1986, in a city in Montana. Adam was said to have grown up “relatively poor.”
Career
Adam worked at Buzzfeed from September 2013 until 2018, where he created or co-wrote 290 articles.[4] His viral ghost story, titled My Apartment Is Being Haunted By The Ghost Of A Dead Child And I'm Not Sure What To Do, was eventually turned into a full length film by Lionsgate in 2023. The film, Dear David, was released to poor reviews. On a Twitter post in October 2024, Adam revealed that he received no compensation from the film release since he had been a Buzzfeed employee when he wrote the story, which was technically legal due to BuzzFeed's contracts.[5]
In January 2018 Adam became a self-employed comic artist and illustrator, using Instagram and Twitter (now X) for most of his works. Since becoming a self-employed artist he has published five books.
Published Works
Adam mostly creates comics, publishing multiple books that he created and illustrated.
| Title | Date of Publication | ISBN-13 | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sudoku Puzzle Book Vol 1: 200 Puzzles | October 25, 2012 | 978-1-4792-7936-4 | |
| Sudoku Puzzle Book Vol 2: 200 Puzzles | January, 18, 2013 | 978-1-4819-5829-5 | |
| Sudoku Puzzle Book Vol 3: 200 Puzzles | January 24, 2013 | 978-1-4820-5574-0 | |
| Books of Adam: The Blunder Years | July 9, 2013 | 978-1-4555-1698-8 | First published comics book |
| Sudoku Puzzle Book Vol 4: 200 Puzzles | June 27, 2014 | 978-1-5002-4412-5 | |
| Tiny Hats on Cats: Because Every Cat Deserves to Feel Fancy | October 20, 2015 | 978-1-4555-5813-1 | |
| Super Chill: A Year of Living Anxiously | October 23, 2018 | 978-1-4494-9155-0 | |
| Fever Knights: Official Fake Strategy Guide | May 3, 2022 | 978-1-5248-6286-2 | Created to look like a real RPG video game strategy guide |
| Fever Knights Role-Playing Game: Powered by ZWEIHANDER RPG | November 7, 2023 | 978-1-5248-6760-7 | Role-Playing Game
Co-authored with Daniel D. Fox, Anna Goldberg, Gabriel Hicks, Kate Bullock, and ARTeapot |
| Bad Dreams in the Night (Horror Stories by Adam Ellis) | April 15, 2024 | 978-1-5248-8718-6 | |
| Let Me in Your Window (Horror Stories by Adam Ellis) | September 9, 2025 | 979-8-8816-0324-3 |
Lawsuits
Since January 2023, Ellis has been involved in an ongoing copyright infringement lawsuit against Stability AI, over its text-to-image model, Stable Diffusion, being allegedly trained on his comics.[6]
External links
adamtots - Official Instagram account
adamtotscomix - Official Twitter (X) Account
References
- ^ "The Unnerving Real Twitter Thread That 'Dear David' is Based on". Collider. October 13, 2023.
- ^ Verhoeven, Beatrice (June 6, 2018). "'Dear David': 'It' Producer, BuzzFeed to Develop Horror Film Based on Viral Ghost Story". TheWrap. Retrieved March 25, 2025.
- ^ Knibbs, Kate. "'Dear David' is the Final Gasp of a Dying Internet". Wired.
- ^ "Adam Ellis". www.buzzfeed.com. May 4, 2018. Retrieved December 29, 2025.
- ^ Villarreal, Daniel. "Gay writer of viral real-life ghost story says he was paid nothing for film of his work". LGBTQ Nation. Retrieved December 29, 2025.
- ^ Gain, Vish (August 14, 2024). "Big win for artists' AI copyright lawsuit in the US". Silicon Republic. Retrieved March 25, 2025.