A.I. Artist Reimagines McDonald’s Items As Ancient Chinese Relics

Who knew that McDonald’s had 5,000 years of cultural history? Here, we share some important ‘archaeological’ findings that have started to appear on China’s internet:

Digital artist and curator Lin Chen, better known by the online moniker Tudou_man, is the one to thank for these excellent images.

His A.I.-generated content (AIGC) art series McDonald’s Museum reimagines items from the iconic fast food chain as ancient Chinese cultural relics.

Tudou_man, who hails from Wuhan and is now based in Shanghai, is a full-time AIGC creator. The 31-year-old concept artist has previously designed for international brands like Ugg, Casetify, and Amiri.

“Thanks to my previous jobs as creative director of an agency and then teaching at a college, I’m used to drawing inspiration from daily life,” Tudou_man tells RADII. “I use A.I. tools to complete my artistic expressions and to examine the influence major brands have on our lives.”

He adds, “I hope my artwork can bring viewers a fresh take on everyday moments and objects.”

His latest project, the McDonald’s Museum series, was inspired by posters he saw on the McDonald’s Instagram account. Using A.I. software Midjourney and Adobe Photoshop, Tudou_man started to design McDonald’s food items in the style of ancient Chinese bronzeware, porcelain, gold, and jade.

During the creation process, Tudou_man recalls, Midjourney generated McDonald’s French fries in their classic red and gold color scheme. He had to use Photoshop to manually make them green.

“I wanted to reimagine them in the texture of ancient Chinese jade,” he explains.

The series quickly went viral on Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent of Instagram, earning positive feedback from McDonald’s lovers and fans of A.I.-generated content.

Tudou_man then reached out to McDonald’s China, giving them the green light to post his artwork on their social media accounts. He described the collab as “a successful exploration of AIGC in the fields of business and art.”

“Because brands are also actively trying to keep up with the wave of A.I. branding and marketing. They hope to optimize their work with A.I. technology.”

He believes that A.I. tools will empower artists, not replace them, and that designers, content creators, and brands must learn to adapt to the rapid expansion and development of A.I. technology.

As he put it, “these days, things are changing so fast and unpredictably, all we can do is just keep studying and evolving.”

All images courtesy of Tudou_man, cover image designed by Haedi Yue