Haha! Great wit. Good drawing so far, a few rough edges, but nothing major.
The totem, (all vertical), might be a tough shape to really get to sit beautifully on a tee . You might try a totem that has an eagle top, (wings outward) like this totem to offset it's singular direction.
You might also make the dog smaller because the eye would take a bit longer to see him and get the idea, which in my mind, is like the timing of a good joke, build up the tension and then let 'er rip.
A few more faces on the totem (more eyes in full fright looking at the dog) might add to the humor of this. As you can see in the totem I attached, many faces, representing the seal, the wolf, etc, were common in totem carving so it wouldn't be unnatural. It wold also eliminate the need to address the crotch area of the figure you have now. I know you started out thinking of Inca or Maya, but American Indian totems are instantly recognized as wood objects and I think would better aid the viewer in understanding the dog/tree concept.
Anyway this is really high end conceptually, keep going, should be great in the end. Cheers!
None of the above comments/suggestions have been lab tested, use at your own risk.
Personally, i think most people would prefer to NOT have urine on their shirt, so I think it's fine how it is. The way it is now, it's like the dog is ABOUT to tinkle on the totem, which adds suspense, but it's not crass. Also, maybe change the title. it might just be psychological, but the word Pee may influence people's approval.
I think this has lots of potential. maybe a bit smaller on the shirt?
Thanks for the ideas. I had put it aside, but I haven't abandoned it.
This is a tiki, not a totem, it's based on Polynesian culture where their gods were represented by carvings. Some of them were blatently sexual. This one is well... not so much.
I was going with the idea of anticipation instead of actual representation of the pee. We all know what the dog is about to do.
