The way I like to draw them, If you didnt have reference objects in the art you wouldnt be able to tell they were 3 feet tall.
Same actually, I like to envision gnome with the more cartoonish feature, like the bigger head and eyes, but halfling as basically "half as tall human". But I understand why this version of them makes it very difficult for them to actually differentiate halfling and human when on a neutral background, so at least some level of dismorphism is to be expected. But some of it goes a bit too far for my taste, like the halfling priestess portrait in the owlcat games.
versions of garden gnomes
I'm playing a Tian Xia Gnome Kineticist in a Season of Ghosts campaign.
The way she discovered her wood armor ability was ending up in a neighbor's garden and forgetting she could move for a few days until she smelled someone cooking fish down the way... :)
I also got the Gnome ability to recall various lore skills as her remembering she knew something from a past existence - her way of avoiding bleaching has been to run off to some new place and forget her past. But it also means she' randomly can't remember if it's today or yesterday, or if shoe laces are for bookbinding, a good snack, or shoes.
Got to throw a little silly into that AP after all.
Golarian gnomes have just the right sort of lore to make them viable to be played either seriously or silly.
So I play mine with her mind just slightly 'off key' to reflect that fey nature.