Im developing a 2D vector-graphics-like illustration tool called plasma. It has several new features like GPU-accelerated rendering, resolution-independent graphics, antialiasing, realtime blur, alpha masking, texturing, abritrary color gradients, and more. It also has a scalable GUI, i.e. you can freely zoom into the tool widgets.
The program will soon reach the beta phase. Heres a screenshot of the current version.