What are everyone's thoughts on creating flesh tones?

Pre-tattooish art I would almost never use black, even for the deepest shadows. With flesh tones I'd be inclined to create shadows with blues, purples or greens. In tattoos, I don't much care for the blackless skin tones which look like bad fake tan or the pink which looks like a 5-year-old's attempt at painting skin (unless it's done particularly well, in which case it can look just as awesome as anything else when done properly). I also don't really like using brown.

Currently I'm having a big love affair with my pot of Indian ink, using it for my shaded greywash layer, including for skin e.g. here . I think it worked fine in that picture, but still kinda too painterly rather than flash-y, and probably not suitable for anything more traditional-looking I might want to do...


Whether for traditional flash styles or just painting in general, what are you thoughts on this?