I'm trying to decided on a good program for illustrating.  I'm not real interested in creating these for stock, but rather a creative outlet for my wife.  She has some serious mobility issues and thought this would be good for her.
I've looked at AI, CoreDraw and a couple of others.  I have downloaded Inkscape and have messed with it some, but I'm not sure that is the best solution.

Thanks

You might try ArtRage.

http://www.artrage.com/

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Does it do anything Photoshop can't do? It seems closer to Corel Painter.  I'd buy and use Painter but it's too slow so I use Photoshop's painting tools instead.

I guess it depends if she would like to do vector or raster illustration.

If she is thinking about doing it for stock and earning an income the best option is to go for vector using Illustrator.

If it is for pleasure and she likes the idea of "painting" on a computer then I personally would use Photoshop, but that is what I am used to, Painter could be another option.

I downloaded Inkscape to see if she would like drawing on the computer before I spring for something like Corel or AI.
I appreciate the suggestions.

Try Gimp for a pixel based drawing.  The software is similar in ways to photoshop,  not the exact same  but not bad either.    It's free too.    A tablet might also be good with either photoshop or gimp,  but start cheaply with those to see if she's got a feel for it or not.