He did Hellboy I/II which had fairly exotic creatures but nothing too far (visually) from the LOtR trilogy. I generally love his work and am looking forward to seeing what he does with The Hobbit.
No, definitely not far from the Tolkien lore at all, it's just that Jackson studiously avoided moving into a fantasy aesthetic in favor of (fairly) realistic designs that would at least work in the real world. With success of the previous films, del Toro may have more room to push the envelope without being as concerned about losing audience. Jackson was wary about pushing the high fantasy because of concerns about losing audience.