As part of Warrnambool City Council, Moyne and Corangamite shires' The Ideas Place, Mr Spelling took out a business pitch contest, winning the opportunity to travel to China and take part in a larger opportunity to win a prize pool of $100,000 at the Nexus Summit in Nanjing.

He will be joined on the trip by 16 other small business owners from across Victoria. 

His pencil designs have proved popular in America and he said he had never thought about the Chinese market before.

"It will be a more intense pitching contest in China," he said. 

His pencil drawings are a "totally new concept of guitar artwork".

"Traditionally they were painted or stickers or transfers were used," he said.

"I've been doing guitar artwork since I was a teen and I was never happy until I used pencils." 

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