I often see the Cairo guys talk about Inkscape. I know what it is, but had never really bothered playing with it. I thought I'd give it a try. I'm no real freehand expert.

I found I love Inkscape. I'm not sure everyone would be endeared to it's usability, but for me, it was actually simpler and easier to figure out than the Adobe tools. One reason, is that for most of the menu items and sort, I can see right through the point-n-clicky things to the Cairo APIs I've become familiar with.