Adobe Illustrator is defenatly one of my most favorite tools for graphics development (Unless it has to do with 3D... check out 3DSMAX section then). I remember that things weren't working out at first, and it seemed to be very complex with all the vector graphics. Then I've heard a comics artist mention using it, so I game it another shot... Results were amazing (according to some people). Basically this is where everything 2D starts... Take a look at my short gallery preview below:

Me... <-------> Sord of... Picture on the right > actually uses some photoshop for texturing sword and shield... but meh...

<--- A picture I did for a friend... As a joke... Ya, I know it looks similar to "me" but thats because I can reuse my previous work to save time (which is also a good skill)

One of my comics... It was a huge success amongs the turing programmers.         --->             Click to enlarge