[MMM]

"Eastern Calligraphy" sounds like a funny term to me, as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Thai, etc. all are distinct from each other.

In my very limited experience I would say you get what you pay for, but at the same time there is no point in buying a 200 dollar brush and 2 dollar a sheet paper from the get-go.

I actually really like the water/slate method for practice. Totally ingenious. Use a brush ans water and practice on a blackboard like slate. You can see your work, but it disappears when the water evaporates after a few seconds. I first saw these in Japanese calligraphy classrooms.

As a non-native speaker/writer practice is going to be essential to make authentic-looking characters. The meaning of the characters is also as important as how they look.