The video for Tom Petty’s previously unreleased track, “Never Be You,” finds its perfect visual partner in American indie artist Jeff Scher.
Known for his distinctive animation style, Scher brings a vivid and emotionally resonant interpretation to Petty’s themes of longing, lost love, and the struggle to move forward.
Using rotoscope techniques and a tactile blend of markers and crayons, Scher creates a visually dynamic narrative. His chaotic yet deliberate collage of source imagery — drawn from films and archival footage — transforms into a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of emotion, reflecting the transient and multifaceted nature of love and desire.
Says Scher:
I use everything, pens, pastels, crayons, inks, pencils, pretty much anything that’ll make a mark on paper. I work on 4.5 x 6” Acme-punched paper. My rotoscope is now a digital projector on a copy stand. I keep a stopwatch going to race myself with each drawing. My animation stand is behind me, …