The Fault In Our Stars Drawing

It's only right that a poster for the film "The Fault in Our Stars" is displayed on a wall of Kate Oberreich's art studio.

After all, sketches by Oberreich hang on the walls of Hazel Lancaster's bedroom.

Hazel is the fictional Indianapolis teenager who narrates "The Fault in Our Stars." Shailene Woodley portrays Hazel in the film, which has sold more than $85 million in tickets in the United States since opening on June 6.

Keen-eyed viewers can see Oberreich's sketches of paper airplanes, ladders and branches above Hazel's bed and near her desk. Barbie Pastorik, who buys props for movies, found Oberreich by searching online for Indianapolis artists.

It's safe to say Broad Ripple High School and Ball State University graduate Oberreich was wowed when she saw one of her ladders in the background of a discussion between Woodley and Laura Dern, who portrays Hazel's mother.

"I don't remember the dialogue from the scene, because I'm sitting there staring (at the drawing)," Oberreich said.

The movie is the adaptation of a best-selling novel by Indianapolis author John Green.

He wrote about Hazel and her love interest, Augustus Waters, a fellow teenage cancer patient. Green also dreamed up the Hectic Glow, a fake band represented by a poster in Hazel's bedroom.

In addition to Green's words and a replication of the Indianapolis Museum of Art's "Funky Bones" sculpture, Oberreich's art brings authentic Hoosier touches to the movie — which was made primarily in Pennsylvania, a state that offers tax incentives to filmmakers while Indiana offers none.

Set buyer Pastorik purchased three sketchbooks from Oberreich, who said she favors start-to-finish documentation of her work.

"Sketchbooks are such an important part of my process," said Oberreich, who doesn't know Green ("I would love to meet him at some point, and thank him.")

Filmmakers disassembled Oberreich's books and selected pieces to imply that 16-year-old Hazel decorated her room with art she created.

Oberreich, 33, said she's happy to be part of a hit movie. The artist once considered going to grad school to study set design, but eventually decided against it.

"I thought, 'I'll be a production designer, and I'll stick my own art into movies,' " she said. "I don't know if that would have worked."

At her studio near the intersection of 54th Street and Keystone Avenue, Oberreich is a mixed-media artist who focuses on items such as paper airplanes, ladders and branches for series of paintings.

Oberreich's first paper airplane project showed a pile of crumpled paper plus one airplane suspended by a string. The ladder sketch seen in "The Fault in Our Stars" was made in 2011, and Oberreich tackled a new ladder painting after seeing the movie.

"Seeing it in a very large scale, I thought, 'That was kind of a good idea. I should revisit that,' " she said.

Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.