Simple Pointer Examples in C
I would teach the use of arrays and array indices first (with pictures of a long row of physical mailboxes, or school lockers, etc.)  Then later explain that all of a computer's and/or C program's (process) memory can be thought of as one big array with a pointer being a form of index (locker number) into that (virtual) memory array.

You can then draw a picture of how arrays of char (bytes) might be allocated in memory.  And then show why pointers might be necessary in order to tell a standard string function how to find (or modify) a substring in an arbitrary C string array.