Dwarves, Gnomes, Goblins, Orcs. For decades we've had a pretty solid idea of what these tend to look like, what kinds of features they hold in common, and people can generally recognize them for what they are.

But that's not always the case. Kobolds, for instance, are culturally specific - they originate from the Germanic House Spirit of the same name, but different cultures approach them differently. While in Western cultures it's more common to see them depicted as lizard-based creatures, Eastern cultures often depict them as more dog-like. Not to mention my web comic, which goes off the rails and depicts them as pangolins.

Setting aside all of your predisposed notions of what a given fantasy race should look like, take another look at the kinds of behaviours and traits they exhibit, and try and take them in a different direction. Personally I like using animals for this kind of thing - choosing one that generally lines up with the traits you're aiming to capture, then using the animal's design language as fodder for fleshing out the rest. But that's just a suggestion - feel free to take them in whatever direction feels best.