Born Thomas Charles Renwick Adams, Tom Adams was a US-born Anglo-Scots illustrator and painter. Long active in a variety of visual formats, he is known for his work in book cover art, portrait painting, poster, advertising and album art. He is most widely known for his book cover art for the paperback editions of Agatha Christie.

After serving two years in the navy, 1944-1946, he then trained at the Chelsea School of Art and Goldsmiths College, where he received a National Diploma of Painting in 1949. Between 1953 and 1960 he provided illustrations for the youth-oriented UK comics Eagle, Girl and Swift.

In the 1960s and 1970s he became involved with several distinguished poets, including Edward Lucie-Smith, Ted Hughes, C. Day Lewis, Brian Pat