Inkscape is a great free & open source alternative to expensive Adobe & Corel programs. It has similar capabilities to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw or Xara X, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. If you’ve ever thought about learning graphic design on your own, Inkscape is the program to have. It not only has a full range professional features, but it’s extensive user documentation & multitude of tutorials available online will never let you get lost.
From Inkscape:
Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports Creative Commons meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, and direct XML editing. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.
Inkscape’s main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards. We also aim to maintain a thriving user and developer community by using open, community-oriented development process, and by making sure Inkcape is easy to learn, to use, and to extend.
Related Links:
Inkscape’s Website
Inkscape’s Wiki
Inkscape on Wikipedia