Accessing Symbolic Thought in Words and Pictures:
I created this a few months ago in a randomized, “chaotic description” exercise during a class at Wizard Academy. Recently, my partner Jeff Sexton added an insightful analysis of the story arc. You'll find it at the bottom of the page. Just scroll down.

     

In the layout of the text above, notice how:

1. The words, “St. George!” appear directly below that character.

2. The phrase Plant this invitation in the dirt is italicized and stairsteps downward to visually reinforce the idea of planting.

3.The stem of the snapdragon flower rises directly from
Snapdragon seeds, just as it does in reality.

4. Better yet, be wild is made large to gain the attention of those readers who scan a page before deciding whether to read it more closely.

5. Instead of using a photograph of a snapdragon flower, I chose to use an artist's illustration and layer the St. George image above it in Photoshop. An illustration triggers the imagination. A photograph merely shows us reality. Our goal isn't to sell the flower but the idea of the flower. Hence, the illustration.

6. The leg and neck of St. George's dragon are aligned with the stem of the snapdragon flower to visually link the two “dragons,” just as British children once linked them in their minds.

7. The dragon is given a leaf to support his foot. The stallion is supported by the largest of the flower petals. Keep in mind that all of this was done in Photoshop. The artist who drew St. George never met the artist who drew the snapdragon flower. Both images were downloaded from the internet, then sized, layered, and integrated into the copy.

Always start with the copy.

– Roy H. Williams

The snapdragon in the background and the St. George/Dragon image in the foreground were not orignally related. Each was pulled out of cyberspace in separate Google image searches.

Want to see some more of my fooling around in Photoshop? Being self-taught, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I can explain exactly why – and how – I do it.

My partner, Jeff Sexton, offers an insightful analysis of the narrative: