Working on a character right now, just not sure if I'm getting a face of a black woman right.. the shape, not the color.
Since, you know, living in a village in a middle of Europe, they are like fairies to me, which I've only seen in pictures.
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You're not wrong to be worried about it, but it really isn't as simple as "make her nose a bit wider," (don't be ridiculous! But it is a common facial feature of, for instance, African Americans and west African genetic groups). The thing you have to remember is that there isn't one "African" morphology - it is the second largest continent in the world, and has more genetic diversity than the rest of the world combined (seriously, look up the research on African mitochondrial DNA - there are dozens if not hundreds of variants in Africa, and the rest of the world has one type). There are African tribes whose morphology looks closer to a stereotypical Asian, others who resemble dark skinned Scandinavians, and still others who have very little similarity to any other ethnic group. Get yourself to Google, and research African ethnic morphology, if you want to do it well.
The stereotypical African-American morphology comes largely from the west African coast, where the slave ports were located, so if you are trying to create an African-American, that's were you should focus your research. But don't forget there is also a strong European genetic component, because slave owners tended to be men, and tended to have no particular qualms about using their slaves bodies however they wanted. An African-American that light skinned will have some European genetics in their back ground (not always the product of rape, but far too often), and that will effect their body shape and features.
And then there is the political component of skin tone in the African-American culture (I don't know enough about African cultures to speak to this there, but I suspect it is similar anywhere there was colonization, so anywhere but Ethiopia). I'm not going to risk getting this post erased (hell, I probably am at risk already, even though I'm just answering your question), but for a long time being light skinned MATTERED. A lot. And while that has improved a bit, it still does. I'd advise doing quite a bit of research on this stuff if you wanted to do anything commercial involving the subject. It can be a very tense subject, when Europeans use black bodies, even in art. Know what you are playing with, I guess is what I'm saying.
