With the advent of computers, nearly anyone can draw or render a decent picture. The question is, Does it help tell a story to make it more compelling?

Bruce Morris has been successful in telling tales with a visual acuity for close to two decades. He recently worked with Disney Feature Animation on “;The Princess and the Frog.”; He's worked for Disney as a story artist on Pixar's “;Finding Nemo”; and as a visual development artist on “;The Little Mermaid,”; and worked as a freelance producer and director for DreamWorks and Warner Bros.

He'll share his experience this week at a lecture and workshop at Kapiolani Community College, during which he will take students through the process of telling a story through effective use of lighting, color, staging and design techniques, and judicious use of editing and music during the post-production of an animated film.

Teaching comes easily to Morris, who's also been a professor of story development at the California Institute of the Arts.

“;I found that my CalArts students—most of whom are now working at Disney—were excited to be more exposed to the elements of visual development and how a story actually works and translates visually,”; Morris said by phone from L.A. “;It takes some discipline to look at one's images as storytelling.

“;There are two things I want to teach the students in Hawaii: one, what a story is trying to tell through the simple interaction between two or three characters and how to depict these characters through design and staging. Even before these characters speak to one another, there's a visual subtext going on. And, two, how to do it visually. You have to know what your characters are trying to tell the audience and provide some context of what they're doing in a scene.”;

MORRIS remembers spending his formative years on Oahu with his family. His father was stationed for a time at the Kaneohe Marine Corps base.

“;While many of my friends in the business had their vision on working in animation from seemingly since the egg, I had a grand adventure of living near the ocean. With the kids let off the leash so to speak, it certainly sparked my creativity.”;

He's pleased that Disney brought back traditional, hand-drawn feature animation with “;The Princess and the Frog,”; due in part to Pixar's John Lasseter, one of the new leaders of the Disney studio animation department and a former CalArts classmate.

“;It's been bit of a strange time for animators,”; Morris said. “;I don't know what business model studios like Disney were using, but I think the concept that killed 2-D to make way for 3-D computer animation was completely bone-headed. It's the kind of story that should dictate the art form. CGI is just another tool in our overall toolbox.

“;Needless to say, I have a great love for hand-drawn animation. We shouldn't let that kind of skill go, because it's hard to get it back. It's an investment of one's own skills and creativity.”;

THE CAMARADERIE involved in working on “;Princess”; led Morris and the Disney directors and story artists he worked with to work on a limited-edition, self-published graphic novel in 2008, “;Who is Rocket Johnson?”; The title has since sold out.

“;The idea was to allow people who are so involved with collaborating on large feature projects to do something personal,”; he said. “;It was limited to directors and story people, and we each had six pages to do, unless somebody dropped out and you bought their space. ... It was great fun to do it and completely challenging for everybody because they had to do it on their off-hours, which were few, what with the crunch of their feature deadlines always looming.”;

Morris is working on a five-book fantasy cycle, and he's looking forward to revisiting his childhood home.

“;I'm hoping that those who come to my lecture will be at least entertained with the imagery, but it will also provide the groundwork for the workshop the next day. Everyone there will be given a small assignment where they have to think up a concept, create a short storyboard and have it critiqued as they pitch their ideas to me and the rest of the class.”;